A majority of Americans in a new poll say they’d be uncomfortable with their health care provider relying on artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their medical care, and less than half think using AI would lead to better health outcomes.
A Pew Research poll released Wednesday found just 39 percent of U.S. adults say they’d feel comfortable with AI as part of their medical care — in practices like screening, diagnosis and treatment — while 60 percent would feel uncomfortable.
A third of respondents think using AI would lead to worse health outcomes for patients, and 37 percent think using it wouldn’t make a difference. Just 38 percent think the practice would lead to better health outcomes.
Exactly three-quarters think the health care sector will “move too fast” toward AI technology, “before fully understanding the risks for patients,” compared to just 23 percent who think providers will move too slowly, “missing opportunities to improve patients’ health.”
At the same time, a plurality of Americans think using AI in health care could reduce health care provider mistakes, with 40 percent saying AI could better the issue and 27 percent saying AI could actually up the number of errors.
More than a third, or 37 percent, think AI could worsen patients’ health care records security and more than half, or 57 percent, say using AI could worsen the personal nature of patient-provider relationships.
The research comes amid national debate over emerging AI technologies like ChatGPT and their place in existing fields, spurring some lawmakers to express concerns about the rapid innovation. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and other Democrats have called for Congress to regulate the tech.
The survey, conducted Dec. 12-18, 2022, surveyed 11,004 U.S. adults and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.