A Gallup survey suggests that Americans are becoming more comfortable with AI being used to make medical decisions. CIDRAP has the news.

Over 5,000 U.S. adults were surveyed, and 56% of the respondents who had seen a healthcare provider within the last year were somewhat or very comfortable with AI making diagnosis and treatment decisions as long as the provider can override them. Only 9% said they were comfortable with AI making decisions without provider review.

53% and 49% of respondents, respectively, said they were comfortable with AI reviewing imaging or making decisions about medication as long as the provider could make the final call. Of the 23% of patients who said they somewhat or strongly trust AI, most of them (65 to 71 percent) were comfortable when AI was assisting the provider or making decisions that could be overridden.

A separate survey found that patients are more comfortable with AI involvement than providers think. 36% of licensed primary care physicians surveyed said they thought patients would be comfortable with AI making decisions that a provider could override; in reality, 56% of patients surveyed said they would be comfortable. Use of AI by healthcare providers is becoming more prevalent, as 89% of those surveyed said they had used an AI tool or a chatbot within the past year for one of seven work tasks, most commonly gathering information on medications.