Acceptability of AI-applications in routine clinical care for children and adolescents: perspectives of parents and healthcare professionals

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, growing interest has emerged in its potential application in pediatric healthcare. Understanding the factors influencing AI acceptability among parents and clinical staff is an important prerequisite for facilitating its integration in clinical routine. To date, these factors have not been systematically assessed across different stakeholder groups. Here we investigated AI acceptability among parents (first cohort n = 198; second cohort: n = 79) and pediatric health care professionals (n = 33) across different disease, diagnosis or treatment scenarios. The effects of demographic variables and contextual predictors, such as data privacy, AI knowledge and perceived disease severity, on willingness to use AI were evaluated. More liberal data privacy was associated with reduced willingness to use AI (p = < .001). A higher perceived disease severity was linked to higher willingness to use AI ({beta} = .10, p = .013) in the second parent group. When the recommendations of AI and clinicians conflicted, parents were more likely to choose AI over the judgment of clinicians in treatment compared to diagnosis scenarios. Healthcare professionals showed similar patterns but additionally weighted perceived disease severity when resolving disagreements. These findings highlight the importance of addressing stakeholder concerns regarding disease specific customization, accuracy, data privacy and accountability when introducing AI into pediatric healthcare settings.