Tool or Tutor? Experimental evidence from AI deployment in cancer diagnosis

Professionals increasingly use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their capabilities and assist with task execution. While prior research has examined these uses separately, their potential interaction remains underexplored. We propose that AI-driven training (tutor effect) and AI-assisted task completion (tool effect) can be complementary and test this hypothesis in the context of lung cancer diagnosis. In a field experiment with 334 medical students, we manipulated AI deployment in training, in practice, and in both. Our findings reveal that while AI-integrated training and AI assistance independently improved diagnostic performance, their combination yielded the highest accuracy. These results underscore AI's dual role in enhancing human performance through both learning and real-time support, offering insights into AI deployment in professional settings where human expertise remains essential.