Most Americans want physicians to disclose when AI is used in their care, and most also feel they have too little say over it, a Pew Research Center report found.
The survey, published Aug. 25, drew on responses from 3,488 U.S. adults fielded June 22-28 through Pew’s American Trends Panel.
Six things to know:
1. The demand for disclosure climbs with the clinical stakes.
Overall, 72% of adults said it is extremely or very important that a provider tell them when AI is used. This figure increases for decisions that shape a diagnosis: 81% wanted disclosure when AI analyzes medical scans, 81% for making diagnoses and 80% for explaining lab results. It falls for administrative tasks — 72% for appointment notes, 64% for prescription refills and 56% for scheduling.
2. Patients want a say, not just a heads-up.
A slight majority, 53%, said they have “not too much” or no say over how AI is used in their care, and 63% want more input, compared with 21% who are comfortable with their current level. For health systems, that reframes AI transparency as a consent question rather than a notification one.
3. Most patients do not know whether AI is already in their care.
Only 16% said a clinician has used AI in their treatment. Another 37% said it has not, and 46% were not sure. The disclosure gap patients are asking to close is, for now, largely a knowledge vacuum.
4. Telling patients is not the same as helping them understand.
Among adults who knew AI had been used in their care, just 22% said they understood extremely or very well how it worked. Thirty-two percent did not understand well. A disclosure line in a patient portal may satisfy the letter of transparency without meeting the intent.
5. The preference is broad, but not uniform.
The call for disclosure held across demographics, with modest gaps. It ran higher among adults 65 and older (76%) than those 18 to 29 (68%), among women (74%) than men (68%), and among college graduates (75%) than those with a high school education or less (67%). By race, it ranged from 75% of white adults to 62% of Asian adults.
6. The disclosure standards patients want largely do not exist yet.
No broadly adopted professional norm governs when or how clinicians disclose AI use, and health systems are setting their own rules in real time. UC San Diego Health began labeling AI-assisted patient messages in MyChart in 2025, with its clinical leaders arguing that transparency is necessary to preserve trust and calling on professional organizations to write guidelines.
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