As part of our commitment to quality with AskTrip (and Trip more broadly), we actively encourage feedback. We recently received the following comment, which I’d like to respond to in case it reflects a view held by others:

“I believe that generative AI tools should not be promoted and positioned as equivalent to expert searching, and feel that it is completely inappropriate that TRIP has devoted so many resources to this. There is extensive evidence that AI tools lack the precision and recall of equivalent systematic searches performed by human beings, and treating them as search engines — especially in medicine and healthcare — causes serious risks when it comes to the reliability of evidence used to support clinical practice. Generative AI is fancy predictive text, not a search engine, and the fact that TRIP has devoted significant resources towards this pivot to AI is extremely disappointing. This irresponsibility has meant that I am less likely to use TRIP as a database, and less likely to recommend it to the healthcare professionals I support.“

My response is:

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. We take all feedback seriously, and it’s important to us to listen and reflect when people raise issues around the use of AI in healthcare.

We’d like to reassure you on a few points. AskTrip is not designed to replace systematic searches or the expertise of information professionals. Instead, it builds on our nearly 30 years’ experience in making high-quality evidence accessible to healthcare professionals. The system is supported by extensive quality-control processes, which we’ve written about in more detail on our blog. These safeguards mean that AskTrip is very different from generic generative AI tools, even if it may look similar on the surface.

We also want to emphasise that using AskTrip is entirely optional – it sits alongside the existing Trip Database, which continues to work as it always has. For some clinicians, especially those without ready access to specialist librarian support, AskTrip provides an additional way to quickly access evidence in a clinically relevant timeframe. For others, it won’t be the right fit, and that’s absolutely fine.

More broadly, we recognise that AI is here to stay. The real challenge – for Trip and for information specialists – is to understand where it adds value, where it falls short, and how to use it responsibly in service of healthcare professionals. Ultimately, both Trip and expert searchers need to offer solutions that meet user needs. If we don’t, clinicians will inevitably look elsewhere.

Finally, on resources – while we have invested in this area, it’s relative and has not been at the expense of our core database. We remain committed, as ever, to delivering trusted evidence to healthcare professionals worldwide.

We share your belief that evidence in healthcare needs to be robust, reliable, and used responsibly. That’s why we’re keen to be transparent and to have these conversations.