Assistive, not autonomous: Generative artificial intelligence in head and neck cancer care - A scoping review - Takeaways - MDSpire

Assistive, not autonomous: Generative artificial intelligence in head and neck cancer care - A scoping review

  • By

  • Jacob E. Karni

  • Christian Simon

  • Sholem Hack

  • May 7, 2026

  • 0 min

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  • 1

    Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly utilized in oncology for clinical decision support, documentation, and patient education.

  • 2

    Head and neck oncology presents unique challenges for GenAI due to its complex anatomy and treatment decisions that affect patient quality of life.

  • 3

    GenAI systems generate probabilistic language outputs, which may mislead users with synthetic confidence despite lacking causal understanding.

  • 4

    Early studies suggest GenAI may perform well in specific language-centric tasks but remains unreliable for autonomous clinical decision-making.

  • 5

    This review aims to synthesize GenAI applications in head and neck oncology, advocating for its use as an assistive technology rather than a replacement for expert judgment.

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