Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of dental students towards artificial intelligence in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The pace of advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in dentistry is accelerating rapidly. Thus, it's very difficult for individuals to conclude that they can fully understand it. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of dental students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia towards (AI). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online-based questionnaire sent to dental students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire used in this study was Google Forms. Furthermore, it was developed after referring a pre-validated questionnaire and distributed to students through social media platforms. The data collection was after 3 weeks. Results: Out of 423 participants, 50.1% had no basic knowledge about the working principle of AI. Also, the majority was not aware of the usage of AI in dentistry (55.8% No). The students get their knowledge about AI from social media and it was the most chosen answer by 40.9% (n=324). When questioned about whether AI applications should be part of undergraduate or postgraduate dental training, the agreement response was higher in postgraduate training (48.9%; n=207) compared to the undergraduate training (40.4%; n=171). Conclusion: Despite the fact that the knowledge of AI among dental students was considered to be low, dental students were enthusiastic to learn more about new technologies related to dentistry. Also, participants believed that AI will play a vast role in dentistry. In order to improve the dental students' knowledge about AI, lectures, curricular courses, and scientific meetings should be highly considered.