aceintegration of AI into undergraduate medical education curricula for AI literacy
Source article: Artificial intelligence in undergraduate medical education: an updated scoping review
BACKGROUND: The irrevocable alteration of medical education due to widespread access to large language models (LLMs) in 2022, and the concomitant surge in AI-related literature, has prompted us to update the evolving impact of AI on undergraduate medical education (UGME). METHODS: The scoping review adhered to the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. A literature search was conducted in April 2024 on PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, ERIC, and Google Scholar using the terms "UGME", "medical students",…
Contested: both sides are scored from claims and sources, not community votes.
Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom for Secondary School Students 09 by James Rhoda. CC BY-SA 4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A November 2025 scoping review in BMC Medical Education screened 3,238 records and included 310 publications on AI in undergraduate medical education from 2020 to April 2024, finding 52% of the included literature appeared in just eight months after the prior general review. Reported uses span autonomous tutoring, self-assessment, simulation-based learning, assessment generation and grading, clinical assessment, procedural skills evaluation, and predictive analytics in both basic and clinical courses.
The surge matters because medical students are demanding AI literacy while schools experiment without common standards, leaving educators without agreed competencies, teaching methods, or ethical frameworks. The review found no studies that measured effects on critical thinking or clinical reasoning, so whether expanded AI tutoring and assessment tools improve or erode core clinical skills remains unanswered as of the April 2024 search date.
- Scoping review screened 3,238 publications from January 2020 to April 2024 and included 310 on AI in undergraduate medical education.
- 161 publications (52%) appeared in the eight months after the previous general medical education scoping review on AI.
- Documented applications include autonomous tutoring, self-assessment, simulation-based learning, assessment generation and grading, clinical assessment, procedural skills evaluation, and predictive analytics.
- Students strongly demand AI literacy training during undergraduate medical education.
Some institutions have begun integrating AI into undergraduate medical curricula as AI use rapidly increases across basic and clinical courses.
There is no standardized approach or consensus on AI competencies and ethical frameworks for undergraduate medical education, and no studies assessed impact on critical thinking or clinical reasoning.
The rundown
The review searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, ERIC, and Google Scholar in April 2024 for terms including UGME, medical students, AI, NLP, ML, ChatGPT, and LLM, covering January 2020 to April 2024.
Authors report that while AI can enhance learning experiences, priorities include defining AI competencies, pedagogical methods, ethical guidelines, and faculty development, with need for collaborative and international efforts.
No included studies measured AI's effect on critical thinking or clinical reasoning, and best evidence for implementation remains unclear.
Sources
- Peer-reviewedBMC Medical Education2025-11-17
How should this claim be treated?
The debate