BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

• Orrall and Rekito (JAMA, 2025) report results of a poll conducted to investigate adults’ trust in AI to inform their health decisions

METHODS:

• Poll administered by KFF
  • KFF is an endowed national nonprofit organization that integrates policy research, polling, and journalism to serve as a reliable and independent source of healthcare information
• Population
  • Nationally representative sample of Black, Hispanic and White adults in the US
• Study design
  • Questions asked about
    • Frequency of AI use
    • Trust in AI sources
    • Whether participants thought AI was doing more to help or hurt people trying to find accurate health information online

RESULTS:

• 2428 participants
  • Reported ever using AI: 63%
  • Reported using several times per day: 11%
• Younger adults were more likely to use AI than older adults
• Adults that report using AI chatbots (e.g. ChatGPT) to receive health information at least once per month: 17%
  • Adults <30 years old: 25%
  • Adults ≥65 years old: 10%
• Most adults who used AI were not that confident it provided accurate health information
  • Reported being “not too confident” or “not at all confident” in the accuracy of AI-generated health information: 63%
  • Reported being “very confident” in it: 5%
• Respondents did say they were more confident that AI provided accurate information about practical tasks such as cooking or home maintenance
• Most adults weren’t sure whether AI was helping or hurting people seeking accurate health information
  • “Not sure” among users of AI: 49%
  • “AI is doing more to hurt” among users: 21%
  • “AI is doing more to help” among users: 30%

CONCLUSION:

• In this poll of US adults, nearly one in five reported using AI to find health information at least once per month
  • Users tended to be younger
• However, most (63%) were not confident that AI provided accurate information
• The authors state

Although only about 1 in 3 respondents reported trusting AI-derived health information, a larger percentage said they trusted chatbots to provide accurate information about other topics

More than half of total adults said they had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in AI for practical tasks, like cooking and home maintenance

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Poll: Trust in AI for Accurate Health Information Is Low