A Field Experiment on AI-Assisted Physicians

Thursday, February 16, 2023

10:00 am - 11:00 am

About the Event

AI assistants—software agents that can perform tasks or services for individuals—are among the most promising AI applications. However, little is known about the adoption of AI assistants by service providers (i.e., physicians) in a real-world healthcare setting. We collaborate with a leading healthcare platform to run a field experiment in which we compare physicians’ adoption behavior, i.e., adoption rate and adoption timing, of smart and automated AI assistants under transparent and non-transparent conditions. We find that AI smartness can increase the adoption rate and shorten the adoption timing, while AI transparency can only shorten the adoption timing. Moreover, the impact of transparency on the adoption rate is contingent on the smartness level of the assistant: AI transparency increases the adoption rate only when the AI assistant is not equipped with smart algorithms and fails to do so when the assistant is smart. Our study can guide platforms in designing their AI strategies. In particular, platforms should develop and apply smart AI algorithms in aiding physicians, and also keep physicians informed on such development and application, especially when the smartness level of the algorithms is low.

About the Speaker

Yinliang (Ricky) Tan is an Associate Professor in the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He is also the Bauer Fellow, and Area Coordinator in Supply Chain Management at Bauer College.

He received his Ph.D. in Operations Management and Information Systems from the University of Florida. His research is interdisciplinary and he is considered as a “boundary spanner” crossing the areas of operations management and information systems. His recent research interests include the blockchain technology, metaverse, management of technology, and supply chain management. His work has been published in journals including Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences, Human Relations, and other premier academic journals. Currently, he is a Senior Editor at the Production and Operations Management, and Associate Editor at the Decision Science Journal and Information & Management Journal. He is recognized as one of the 40 Most Outstanding Business Professors Under 40 worldwide by Poets & Quants. He has also received the Carol J. Latta Emerging Leadership Award for Outstanding Early Career Scholars by Decision Science Institute.

Tan has rich teaching experience at undergraduate, graduate, executive, and Ph.D. levels. He has co-designed the curriculum of the Master of Business Analytics program at Tulane University and developed several courses highlighting the experiential learning in the program. His pedagogical research on active learning is also well cited. Based on his teaching performance, he has received several teaching recognitions including Dean’s Excellence for Graduate Teaching Award at Tulane University.

Prior to joining Bauer College, Professor Tan worked at the A.B. Freeman School of Business of Tulane University as an Assistant Professor (2015-2021), and received his confirmation as an Associate Professor with Tenure in 2021. During this time at Tulane University, he was awarded the Irving LaValle Early Career Professorship and served as the Executive Director for Goldring Institute of International Business, where he helped facilitating the global partnerships with universities, and industry for degree and non-degree programs, faculty and student exchanges, and research. He has also served on the Freeman School’s Dean Search Committee.

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