ABSTRACT
Introduction: The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare highlights not only issues of functional acceptance but also fundamental aspects of trust, perceived risk, and human oversight. The ‘acceptance’ of AI is not limited to intention to use or technological familiarity; rather, it constitutes a multidimensional phenomenon shaped through evaluations of reliability, assessments of potential risks, and perceptions regarding its ethical implementation. Understanding these parameters is a prerequisite for the responsible and human-centered integration of AI systems into healthcare services.
Aim: The study explores the attitudes, intention, and determining factors that influence AI acceptance in healthcare, using the theoretical framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), enriched with variables of trust, perceived risk, human oversight, openness to change, and conceptual understanding of AI.
Material and Methods: A quantitative study was conducted using a structured six-point Likert-scale questionnaire in a sample of 240 participants, consisting of 120 healthcare professionals and 120 healthcare service recipients, with a response rate of approximately 84%. Data collection took place during October-November 2025. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 29) and included reliability testing, descriptive and inferential statistics, with the aim of investigating relationships and differences among key variables and groups.
Results: The results show that AI acceptance is not formed uniformly. Among healthcare professionals, intention to use was significantly strengthened by perceived ease of use, whereas among healthcare service recipients, openness to change played a decisive role. In both groups, conceptual understanding of AI was a strong positive predictor, while perceived risk emerged as the most important negative factor in adoption intention.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that AI acceptance is closely linked to users level of understanding and to their concerns regarding the safety and reliability of AI applications. Attitudes toward the use of AI in healthcare are shaped through a continuous negotiation between technological capabilities and human values. Trust, transparency, and adequate information are not merely prerequisites, but fundamental conditions for human-centered and ethically sustainable integration, as also foregrounded in the framework of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, technology acceptance, healthcare professionals, healthcare service recipients, Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
