ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2025
Generative Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Enhancing Critical Thinking or Undermining Cognitive Autonomy?
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Application of deep machine learning in dental education: a systematic review of effectiveness in dental students' teaching learning outcomes.Evidence-based dentistry · 2026Pooled it
- Medical Students' Attitudes, Perceptions, and Self-Reported Familiarity With AI in Health Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR medical education · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of generative artificial intelligence on clinical skills and knowledge acquisition in medical undergraduates: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Pooled it
- Virtual patients in medical education: a bibliometric analysis based on the wos core collection and scopus databases.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Scaffolded AI-Supported Problem-Based Learning for Medical Interns: Exploratory Retrospectively Registered Randomized Controlled Evaluation With a Voluntary Feasibility Follow-Up.JMIR medical education · 2026Trial
- Artificial intelligence readiness in Pakistan's medical and dental education: training-phase decline, a knowledge-practice paradox, and the role of digital determinants of health.Medical education online · 2026Article
- Beyond social media: the era of generative AI and intelligent digital platforms in nephrology education.Renal failure · 2026Article
- The Forgotten Student-Generative AI Use in Medical Education and the Technology-Integrated Educational Design (TIED) Road Map: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Review
- Promise, Mimicry, and Surveillance: Responsibly Integrating Artificial Intelligence With Socratic Inquiry in Medical Education.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Effect of Large Language Model-Powered Virtual Standardized Patients on History-Taking Among Undergraduate Medical Students: Propensity-Matched Cohort Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Multimodal Large Language Models for Dental Chart Image Interpretation: Cross-Sectional Benchmarking Study With Students and Clinicians.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Evolution of Artificial Intelligence Adoption inOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Authors' Reply: Methodological Concerns in AI Medical Education Frameworks.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Article
- Developing a Large Language Model-Based Feedback System for Case Report Writing in Rehabilitation Education: Tutorial.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Re-Centering Clinical Documentation in the Age of AI Scribes: Four Aims of the Patient Chart Note.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Mixed-methods study on GenAI Usage, dependence behaviors, and standardized application paths among Chinese medical students.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- The landscape of virtual simulation in undergraduate dental education with implications for artificial intelligence incorporation.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Media Competency: A Minimal Standard for Reportable Educational Work.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Design and Evaluation of a Faculty Development Workshop Series on Integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Mixed Methods Pilot Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) enables the production of coherent and contextually relevant text by processing large-scale linguistic datasets. Tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and LLaMA are increasingly integrated into medical education, assisting students with a range of tasks, including clinical reasoning, literature review, scientific writing, and formative assessment. Although these tools offer significant advantages in terms of productivity, personalization, and cognitive support, their impact on critical thinking-a cornerstone of medical education-remains uncertain. The aim of this viewpoint paper is to critically assess the influence of GenAI on critical thinking within medical training, examining both its potential to enhance cognitive skills and the risks it poses to cognitive autonomy. Users have reported increased efficiency and improved linguistic output; however, concerns have also been raised regarding the risk of cognitive overreliance. Current evidence presents a mixed picture, indicating both improvements in learner engagement and potential drawbacks such as passivity or susceptibility to misinformation. Without curricular integration that prioritizes ethical use, prompt engineering, and critical evaluation, GenAI may compromise the cognitive autonomy of medical students. Conversely, when thoughtfully embedded into pedagogical frameworks, these tools can act as cognitive enhancers-supporting, rather than replacing, clinical reasoning. Medical education must adapt to ensure that future physicians engage with GenAI in a critical, ethical, and context-aware manner, especially in complex decision-making scenarios. This transformation demands not only technological fluency but also reflective practice and sustained oversight by faculty and academic institutions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.