Pew survey finds 60% of Americans uneasy with AI in medical care

Oct 29, 2026
A Pew Research Center survey finds Americans are open to AI handling some healthcare tasks, but most want human review and remain uncomfortable with its use in diagnosis and treatment.

In a new survey, Pew Research Center finds that 60% of Americans are uncomfortable with AI being used in their healthcare for tasks such as diagnosis and treatment, compared with 30% who are comfortable. The survey covered 3,488 US adults from June 22 to 28, 2026.

Translation drew the most support among the eight tasks in the survey. Some 78% were open to AI translating for patients, including 52% who wanted a human to conduct a final review and 26% who accepted AI working alone. About half or more were also open to AI analyzing and explaining medical scans and laboratory results with human review.

Support fell for decisions involving diagnoses and insurance. Some 46% did not want AI involved in insurance claim decisions, while 5% accepted AI making those decisions alone. Americans were nearly divided on health outcomes: 37% expected AI to improve them, 36% expected them to worsen, and 26% expected little difference.

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