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Human deskilling in medical artificial intelligence: prohibited or permissible under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act?

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology (2026)Cite this article

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Artificial intelligence is rapidly being adopted in healthcare, but studies have shown a ‘deskilling’ phenomenon. Routine exposure to medical artificial intelligence can pose deskilling risks for physicians. We discuss these risks and whether such systems violate the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, the world’s first comprehensive regulatory framework on artificial intelligence.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the European Union (grant agreement no. 101057099). Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Health and Digital Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Law, European Union Center, Cancer Center at Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Sara Gerke

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy

    Cesare Hassan

  3. Department of Gastroenterology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy

    Cesare Hassan

  4. Gastroenterology Section, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Yuichi Mori

  5. Digestive Disease Center, Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital, Yokohama, Japan

    Yuichi Mori

  6. Clinical Effectiveness Research Group, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Yuichi Mori

Authors
  1. Sara Gerke
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  2. Cesare Hassan
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  3. Yuichi Mori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Gerke.

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Competing interests

Outside the submitted work, S.G. reports grants from the European Union (grant agreement no. 101057321). She is also a member of the Bayer Bioethics Council and a Research Fellow at the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law, supported by a Novo Nordisk Foundation Grant for a scientifically independent International Collaborative Bioscience Innovation & Law Programme (Inter-CeBIL programme; grant no. NNF23SA0087056). C.H. has conflicts of interest with Odin Vision (consultation and device loan) and Olympus (device loan and speaking fees). Y.M. has conflicts of interest with Olympus (consultation, speaking fees and device loan) and Cybernet System (loyalty fees).

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Gerke, S., Hassan, C. & Mori, Y. Human deskilling in medical artificial intelligence: prohibited or permissible under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-026-01210-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-026-01210-y

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