More than 40 million Americans use ChatGPT daily to ask questions about healthcare, according to a new report from OpenAI that highlights how patients and clinicians are increasingly turning to AI to navigate a complex and strained U.S. healthcare system.
The report, “AI as a Healthcare Ally: How Americans Are Navigating the System With ChatGPT,” was shared with Becker’s by an OpenAI spokesperson. It is based on anonymized ChatGPT message data and OpenAI-led research.
Here are eight key findings from the report:
- More than 5% of all ChatGPT messages globally now relate to healthcare, OpenAI reported. Among the platform’s more than 800 million regular users, one in four submits a healthcare-related prompt each week, with tens of millions doing so daily.
- In the U.S., the findings point to growing reliance on AI tools as patients grapple with rising costs, access challenges and administrative complexity. Nearly 1.6 million to 1.9 million ChatGPT messages each week focus on health insurance issues, including plan comparisons, billing questions, claims, enrollment and cost-sharing, according to the report.
- OpenAI also found that seven in 10 health-related conversations on ChatGPT occur outside normal clinic hours, underscoring demand for information when providers’ offices are closed.
- The report highlights particularly heavy use of ChatGPT in rural and underserved areas. Users in rural communities send an average of nearly 600,000 healthcare-related messages each week, OpenAI said.
- In areas it defined as hospital deserts — locations more than a 30-minute drive from a general medical or children’s hospital — ChatGPT averaged more than 580,000 healthcare-related messages per week during a four-week period in late 2025.
- Wyoming ranked highest among states for the share of healthcare-related messages coming from hospital deserts, followed by Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Vermont, according to state-level data included in the report.
- Beyond patient use, the report also points to rising adoption of AI tools among healthcare professionals. Sixty-six percent of U.S. physicians reported using AI for at least one use case in 2024, up from 38% the year prior, according to data cited in the report. Nearly half of U.S. nurses reported using AI weekly.
- OpenAI said healthcare workers are using AI for tasks such as documentation, administrative work, diagnostic support and managing burnout, while patients use the technology to better understand symptoms, prepare for clinical visits and navigate insurance and billing challenges.
