Artificial intelligence has gained considerable importance in the medical field in recent years [26, 27]Therefore, it is important to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals in different specialties, especially the coming generation of medical students, regarding generative AI in Egypt.
Knowledge about AI
Our study revealed a moderate level of knowledge among medical students about understanding generative AI regarding its meaning, usage, application in the medical field, and its limitations and ethical concerns.
Our findings are similar to those of several cross-sectional studies in several countries. Baigi, 2023 [28] was the first systematic review to assess the knowledge, attitude, and skills among medical, dental, and pharmacist students. It summarized 38 cross-sectional studies conducted from 2019 to 2022 around the world. This study was conducted when generative AI was first introduced to the public. They revealed that most students had limited knowledge about generative AI with a positive attitude.
This could be explained as generative AI was a new trend with little understanding of its meaning, lack of access to free paid apps or internet, and lack of teaching centers for new trends about AI, also it could be expected with the medical field studying overwhelming.
Similar findings were presented in other studies among medical students in different Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia [29] and Kuwait [30].and the study which was conducted by Al-Qerem, 2023 [17] among Jordan medical, dental, and pharmacy students, Al-Qerem, 2023 stated that there was a moderate level of knowledge with a positive attitude and little practice. They interestingly found a positive association between the type of college and both knowledge and attitude, as medical students had more knowledge and attitude scores than dental and pharmacy students.
This could be explained as medical students might be more prone to use generative AI tools in their future work such as in surgical specialties or radiology with much interest in learning AI.
In the current study, there was a statistically significant difference between males and females in knowledge scores where males had a higher knowledge than females (69.3% versus 55%) respectively, in the contrary to the study conducted by Elchaghaby, 2025 [18] in Egypt to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception of dental students.
This difference in knowledge and usage of AI tools between men and women could be attributed to that men generally have higher engagement and interest in AI, while some women may find interacting with AI tools less appealing due to perceived utility and the specific way of thinking required.
In the current study, a positive association was found between the university and knowledge scores, Students from the 6th October University, which is a private university, had the highest knowledge score followed by Al Azhar University, this can be explained as 6th October students had access to more technology in their educational process than other governmental universities.
Additionally, the Clinical phase students had more knowledge than the academic phase. This could be explained as the clinical phase students learn about internal medicine, surgery, and other specialties making it easier for them to understand the impact of generative AI on the medical field.
Attitude towards AI
In the current study, despite moderate knowledge, most of the studied medical students had a positive attitude towards generative AI, as they consider it an effective tool for medical education and helping patients communicate with doctors. While they still had some concerns about replacing some medical specialties. Most students (67.2%) had some concerns about ethical considerations of using generative AI.
These findings are similar to the study conducted by Elchaghaby, 2025 [18] to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception of dental students from Cario and Russian dental schools in Egypt, they found a moderate knowledge level with a positive attitude toward generative AI.
Khater, 2023 [21] conducted a study on medical students at Ain Shams University to assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students in Egypt. Khater, stated the same findings where (41.2%) had good knowledge and (57.7%) had a positive attitude toward generative AI.
Hasan, 2024 [31] conducted a cross-sectional study on pharmacy students from different countries around the world including Egypt and also reported that there was moderate knowledge with a positive attitude towards generative AI.
Practice of generative AI
In the current study, moderate knowledge and positive attitude were reflected in medical students’ practice, as most of them use generative AI tools in grammar checking, doing tasks, and homework, and conducting research.
In the contrary, in another cross-sectional study in two different medical schools in Germany, students were asked about AI literacy knowledge and attitudes, which revealed slightly different findings than the current study, as the findings revealed that students had positive attitudes, the ability to critically appraise AI and their use in practice was high; however, their technical understanding was limited [32].
This could be explained as German students and developed countries use technology in their education more frequently than those in the Arab world do and being exposed to incorporation of generative AI learning in medical their curricula.
For generative AI’s increasing importance, several trials have been conducted to incorporate generative AI learning in medical curricula. For example, Moldt, 2023 [25] was an elective course for 12 medical students in Germany, that tried to increase medical awareness. The course succeeds in increasing students’ awareness and attitude paving the way for German medical schools to teach generative AI in their curricula.
Another course was conducted on nurse students in Portland. Hawk, 2024 [20] assessed the influence of applying generative AI in research compared with ordinary research with guidance on the way it is used. They reported positive outcomes as students found it easy to use generative AI tools and find the right information easily.
Finally, male sex, private universities and clinical phase were statistically significant independent predictors of knowledge about generative AI. This study also highlights the need to incorporate AI knowledge into medical curricula.
Study limitations
Our study has several limitations. Our sample was a convenient sample, which can lead to potential selection bias, potential recall bias, and responder bias as the questionnaire was self-reported online. The Nagelkerke R² value (14.3%) indicates modest predictive power of satisfactory knowledge. The size of our sample is too small to extend our conclusions to all medical universities in Egypt. Another potential limitation of our study is the length of the questionnaire, which may discourage some students from completing it. Additionally, since the questionnaire was administered online, it led to exclusion of students with limited digital access. Finally, as the questionnaire is about a new field, “Generative AI,” most of the students are already interested in this field, which results in selection bias. To solve these problems, several studies should be performed in medical schools in Egypt with larger sample sizes and using diverse sample methods for better interpretation.
Although that several strengths exist as the current study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of generative AI in several medical schools in Egypt not only one medical school discussing this important field among a wide range of medical students in different Egyptian universities, providing a view of Egyptian medical students’ thinking and interpretation of generative AI.
