Abstract
This study aimed to describe the current understanding of rehabilitation professors and students of the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) in rehabilitation services. This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2023 to January 2024. A predeveloped, standard questionnaire was used to collect the data. Questionnaires were distributed via e-mail among rehabilitation students and professors at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, northeastern Iran. The majority of students (88.9%) and professors (100.0%) had basic knowledge about AI intelligence. The most important benefits of AI in rehabilitation, according to students (86.9%) and rehabilitation professors (100.0%), are assistive technologies. For the majority of students, their main concern in the implementation of AI intelligence in rehabilitation was the inability to empathize with or understand the complexity of the human experience (48.4%). However, the majority of professors considered the main concern to be the inability to provide judgment in unforeseen situations outside of its planning scope (57.1%). The lack of practical knowledge was identified as an obstacle to the adoption of AI in rehabilitation among students and professors. In addition, the cost and available resources of AI in rehabilitation were the most common barriers noted by experts and students.