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AI ethical awareness among University of Khartoum medical students

Source article: Artificial intelligence ethical awareness and academic integrity among medical students at the University of Khartoum: a cross-sectional study

Integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare and medical education implies significant opportunities along with significant ethical challenges. Despite the substantial medical student uptake of artificial intelligence globally, little comprehensive assessments of ethical awareness are being conducted. This study aimed to assess artificial intelligence awareness and academic integrity level among University of Khartoum medical students and to examine relationships between the awareness level, demographic…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourcePeer-reviewedTRV-2026-1637· cite & verify
Artificial intelligence ethical awareness and academic integrity among medical students at the University of Khartoum: a cross-sectional study
Ethics of AI in Digital Medicine – Explanation why transparent explainable AI is important by KI-Campus. CC BY-SA 4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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P 69The P score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded problem claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.

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In brief

A 2025 survey of 349 Years 3-6 medical students at the University of Khartoum used a 32-item scale to measure AI ethical awareness and academic integrity. The median total score of 4.16 indicated moderate awareness, and privacy and data protection scored highest. Transparency and fairness scored lowest.

The results suggest that students are learning about AI ethics mainly outside the curriculum, since informal exposure tracked with awareness while formal exposure did not. The authors call for institutional policies and longitudinal research. The cross-sectional design cannot show how awareness changes over training.

Main points

  1. The sample was 349 students, predominantly female (69.3%), with a mean age of 22.85 years.
  2. Female students were more aware (P = .01); no differences were seen by year of study.
  3. ChatGPT use was reported by 94.6% of students.
  4. Google Gemini/Notebook LM use was strongly associated with higher awareness (P = .003).
  5. Gender, informal exposure and tool use together accounted for 11.2% of the variance in awareness.

The gain

Students showed moderate ethical awareness overall, with privacy and data protection scoring highest (median 4.67), suggesting a solid base in some areas of AI ethics.

The problem

Formal AI instruction is minimal for most students, and awareness of transparency and fairness is weakest, so ethical competence depends largely on informal exposure.

The rundown

The study was an institutional cross-sectional descriptive design at the University of Khartoum Faculty of Medicine. It used convenience sampling with quota allocation and nonparametric tests to compare groups and examine relationships.

Scores were categorized as moderate based on sample-derived empirical tertiles. Privacy protection and accountability were noted as particular strengths, while transparency and fairness were identified as gaps.

Informal exposure was positively correlated with awareness (P = .01), whereas formal exposure was not. About half of students (51.6%) reported moderate to high informal exposure, compared with 63.9% reporting minimal formal exposure.

What this doesn’t fix

The sample was recruited by convenience sampling with quota allocation at a single institution, and the authors say longitudinal research is needed to track how AI ethics awareness evolves during training.

Sources

  1. Peer-reviewedBMC Medical Education2026-10-15

The debate