Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2023; 29(48): 6168-6178
Published online Dec 28, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i48.6168
Challenges involved in the application of artificial intelligence in gastroenterology: The race is on!
Chrysanthos D Christou, Georgios Tsoulfas
Chrysanthos D Christou, Georgios Tsoulfas, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Hippokration General Hospital, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54622, Greece
Chrysanthos D Christou, Georgios Tsoulfas, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54622, Greece
Author contributions: Christou CD and Tsoulfas G performed the screening of articles for eligibility; Christou CD drafted the manuscript; Tsoulfas G edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Georgios Tsoulfas, FACS, FICS, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Hippokration General Hospital, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Street, Thessaloniki 54622, Greece. tsoulfasg@gmail.com
Received: July 25, 2023
Peer-review started: July 25, 2023
First decision: October 9, 2023
Revised: November 6, 2023
Accepted: December 18, 2023
Article in press: December 18, 2023
Published online: December 28, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have several applications in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of various gastrointestinal diseases, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, gastrointestinal bleeding, inflammatory bowel diseases, polyps, colorectal cancer, and others. Despite their promising results, AI/ML applications in gastroenterology are hindered by several challenges, including accuracy, cost-effectiveness, cybersecurity, interpretability, oversight, and liability concerns. In this opinion review, we elaborate on these challenges and present different ways to overcome them.