A Human-Centered Approach to Identifying Promises, Risks, & Challenges of Text-to-Image Generative AI in Radiology

As text-to-image generative models rapidly improve, AI researchers are making significant advances in developing domain-specific models capable of generating complex medical imagery from text prompts. Despite this, these technical advancements have overlooked whether and how medical professionals would benefit from and use text-to-image generative AI (GenAI) in practice. By developing domain-specific GenAI without involving stakeholders, we risk the potential of building models that are either not useful or even more harmful than helpful. In this paper, we adopt a human-centered approach to responsible model development by involving stakeholders in evaluating and reflecting on the promises, risks, and challenges of a novel text-to-CT Scan GenAI model. Through exploratory model prompting activities, we uncover the perspectives of medical students, radiology trainees, and radiologists on the role that text-to-CT Scan GenAI can play across medical education, training, and practice. This human-centered approach additionally enabled us to surface technical challenges and domain-specific risks of generating synthetic medical images. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of medical text-to-image GenAI.