A Gallup poll reveals that more than half of U.S. adults accept AI-driven decisions on medical diagnoses and treatments—provided a doctor retains the ability to examine and reverse those choices.
Patients are becoming more comfortable with AI tools making clinical decisions, but having human oversight is still important to them, with the majority wanting providers to sign off on AI-made decisions.
According to the survey, which polled over 5,000 American adults, people are most comfortable with AI diagnosing them and making treatment decisions, as long as providers are involved in the decision-making process.
Patient Comfort with AI
More than a third of respondents said they are comfortable with AI helping providers make choices, and they want medical professionals to oversee the selection of drugs and the analysis of X-rays.
Patient comfort with AI falls significantly when a doctor is not part of the decision-making process, which shows that human supervision is vital in clinical settings.
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A separate Gallup survey of over 1,000 primary care doctors revealed a large disconnect between what doctors believe patients are okay with and what patients actually find acceptable.
Provider-Patient Gap
There is a 20-point difference between the level of comfort patients have with AI diagnosing and treating them and the level providers believe patients possess.
This discrepancy suggests that doctors ought to ask patients about their preferences regarding AI usage, according to the report authors.
The most important factor in increasing patient comfort with AI in clinical care was having a provider review the technology’s choices, with nearly half of survey participants citing this as a key element.
Increasing Patient Comfort
Strong privacy protections ranked as the next most important factor for making patients more comfortable with AI, with one-third of respondents saying they would be okay with AI operating independently without a doctor’s check.
