Infographic – Americans Uncomfortable With A.I. in Health

(Pew Research Center)

25 Feb. 2023. A poll of U.S. adults indicates Americans overall are not ready for artificial intelligence to assist clinicians in detecting disease and suggesting treatments. The Pew Research Center reported this week on a survey conducted late last year to better understand views in the U.S. about A.I. and its impact on daily lives, including health care.

The Pew survey asked respondents about their comfort level if their health care providers use A.I. to diagnose disease and recommend therapies. A majority of Americans — six in 10 — say they’re uncomfortable with their medical providers using A.I. in this way, with 39 percent indicating they’re comfortable with the practice. And only about four in 10 (38%) say using A.I. would lead to better outcomes for patients.

Even for those who consider themselves knowledgeable about A.I., support for these technologies is at best divided. Among respondents in the survey who say they’ve heard a lot about A.I., only half (50%) are very or somewhat comfortable with their medical practitioners using A.I. for disease diagnosis or suggesting treatments.

In addition, seven in 10 (70%) of this same group of A.I.-knowledgeable respondents say they’re more concerned about clinicians moving too fast in adopting the technology before fully understanding the risks, than moving too slowly. That’s not much different from the three-quarters (75%) of American adults overall who express more concern about their health care providers moving too quickly with A.I.

Pew Research Center conducted the survey online with 11,004 U.S. adults taking part in the Center’s American Trends Panel from 12 to 18 Dec. 2022. Participants are recruited through national random sampling of U.S. households, with results weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population.

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