Assessing faculty knowledge, attitudes, practices, and training needs regarding artificial intelligence in medical education

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming healthcare, medical education, and scientific research. As AI integration into medical education becomes inevitable, faculty development programs are needed to equip medical educators with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes. This study aimed to analyze the AI training needs of faculty members and teaching assistants at the Alexandria Faculty of Medicine (AFM) as a crucial step in planning an AI faculty development program. A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess respondents’ current knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding the use of AI in their professional practice, along with their learning preferences. A total of 336 faculty members and teaching assistants completed the survey. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative responses were summarized via content analysis. While 52.1% of respondents expressed a high interest in integrating AI into their professional practice and 55.6% considered learning about AI highly important, about 56.0% were unaware of AI uses in medicine, and 67.0% had never used AI applications in their work. Key barriers included limited access to AI tools (72.9%), insufficient knowledge (64%), and a lack of training opportunities (60.7%). Most respondents (84.2%) preferred workshop-based training. This study highlights the need for a faculty development program to develop AI competencies of faculty members to fully leverage AI tools and mitigate their limitations at AFM. The findings provide initial guidance for the planning of context‑appropriate AI faculty development initiatives for medical educators.