Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults use AI chatbots for at least one health-related reason, an Aug. 25 report from Pew Research Center found.
The findings come from a survey of 3,488 U.S. adults conducted June 22-28 and follow a KFF poll that put monthly AI health-tool use at 29%, up from 17% in 2024.
Here are six key findings from the report:
- Speed drives adoption more than anything else. Twenty-eight percent of Americans use chatbots to get health information quickly.
- Chatbots function as a diagnostic first stop. Twenty-five percent of adults use them to figure out what is causing their symptoms, and 22% use them to learn more about a diagnosis a doctor already gave.
- Cost is a factor for many users. Twenty-two percent turn to chatbots because the information is low-cost or free, and 20% use them to help interpret lab results.
- Usage skews young, wealthy and highly educated. Fifty-six percent of Asian American adults and 44% of adults ages 18-29 are chatbot health users, compared with 17% of adults 65 and older.
- Most users find the information valuable. Forty-seven percent of chatbot health users call it extremely or very helpful, and 48% call it somewhat helpful. Just 5% say it is not helpful.
- Comfort sharing personal health data is split. Twenty-nine percent of chatbot health users are extremely or very comfortable sharing personal health information with a chatbot, while 26% are not too or not at all comfortable.
