AI can make appointment but doctor should make decision, Americans say in poll

Americans are split on whether AI improves patient health and are wary of its effect on the doctor-patient relationship, a new Pew survey finds.(CN) — When a chatbot starts translating for a patient who doesn’t speak English, most Americans are fine with it.But give that same machine the final word on an insurance claim or cancer diagnosis, and enthusiasm evaporates.That’s the key takeaway from a new Pew Research Center survey of 3,488 U.S. adults published Friday. It shows Americans are open to letting artificial intelligence handle a range of healthcare tasks, especially paperwork.At the same time, Americans are far less willing to let AI operate in a health care setting without a human looking over its shoulder. And when asked about their own doctor leaning on AI for diagnoses and treatments, a clear majority — 60% — say they would feel uncomfortable, compared to only 30% at ease.Roughly eight in 10 adults are receptive to AI translating for a patient, either on its own (26%) or with a human doing a final review (52%). Similar majorities support AI scheduling appointments and ordering prescription refills.Most Americans support AI analyzing medical scans and explaining lab results — but only if a human reviews its work.Support collapses as the stakes go up. Forty-one percent want AI to play no role at all in making a diagnosis, while 46% reject any AI involvement in deciding insurance claims. Just 3 to 5% are comfortable with a machine making those decisions alone.On whether AI will actually improve patient health, the public is almost evenly split. Thirty-seven percent expect better outcomes, 36% expect worse ones and the rest see little difference.That split has held steady since Pew asked the same question in 2022. What’s changed is the mood among younger adults. Those under 30 have grown markedly more pessimistic, with 45% now saying AI will worsen health outcomes — up from 29% four years earlier. Adults 65 and older have moved the other way, with 42% now expecting better results.Pessimism runs deeper on the human side of medicine. About half of adults say AI will make the patient-doctor relationship worse, and 51% say it will weaken the security of personal health information. Only 8% think privacy will improve.Conversely, views are less bleak on access. Thirty-one percent say AI will make services more available, versus 20% who expect the opposite. On costs and diagnostic accuracy, opinion is more mixed and large shares simply say they are unsure.Trust is thin outside the exam room. Majorities express little or no confidence that health insurers, the federal government, AI companies or even state governments will ensure the technology is used in patients’ best interest.Doctors fare better: Twenty-six percent have a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in them, and another 34% have some.The findings are not uniform. Asian Americans, people with higher incomes and people with more education are consistently more open to AI usage across the tasks surveyed and more optimistic about its effect on outcomes. Lower-income adults and women are more wary.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads