Sixty percent of Americans would be uncomfortable with their doctor using AI in healthcare for diagnoses and treatments, and most don’t want AI working without human oversight, an Oct. 29 Pew Research Center report found.
That is double the 30% who said they would be comfortable. Pew surveyed 3,488 U.S. adults June 22-28.
Public openness depends on the stakes. Seventy-eight percent are open to AI translating for patients, though most of that group wants a human to do a final review. Sixty percent are open to AI analyzing medical scans with human review, while 6% would let AI do it alone.
Support drops for clinical and coverage decisions. Just 3% are open to AI making a diagnosis on its own, and 41% aren’t open to AI making diagnoses at all. Forty-six percent want AI kept out of insurance claim decisions entirely.
Americans are split on outcomes: 37% expect AI to improve patient health, 36% expect it to worsen it and 26% see little difference. Pessimism is rising among adults ages 18 to 29, with 45% now expecting worse outcomes, up from 29% in 2022.
Respondents also flagged data and relationship risks. Fifty-one percent said AI will make the security of patients’ health information worse, compared with 8% who said better. Forty-seven percent expect AI to damage the patient-doctor relationship.
Hospital executives face a trust gap. Forty-two percent of adults have little or no confidence in hospital leadership to ensure AI serves patients’ best interests, compared with 16% who have a great deal or quite a bit. Physicians fared better but still split the public: 26% expressed high confidence and 25% low or no confidence.
The findings build on an Aug. 25 Pew report drawn from the same survey, which found 72% of adults consider it extremely or very important that providers disclose when they use AI in care.
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