A new study explored how Americans feel about their healthcare being in the hands of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to data from the Pew Research Center, 60% of U.S. adults would be uncomfortable if their healthcare provider relied on AI for their medical care. In fact, the overall outlook for AI’s adaptation in healthcare wasn’t all that rosy, as fewer than half in the U.S. expect AI in health and medicine to improve patient outcomes. Only 39% said they would be comfortable if their healthcare provider relied on AI for their medical care, such as diagnosing disease and recommending treatments, Pew found.
The Pew survey, conducted Dec. 12-18, 2022, queried 11,004 U.S. adults about their AI in healthcare views. Only 38% said AI being used to do things like diagnose disease and recommend treatments would lead to better health outcomes for patients generally, while 33% said it would lead to worse outcomes and 27% said it wouldn’t make much difference.
“These findings come as public attitudes toward AI continue to take shape, amid the ongoing adoption of AI technologies across industries and the accompanying national conversation about the benefits and risks that AI applications present for society,” Pew noted.
AI is being rapidly introduced and adopted into the healthcare space, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved more than 500 AI healthcare algorithms since 1995. The majority of these algorithms––more than 300 apps––were cleared by the agency between 2019 and 2022, underscoring just how quickly the technology is ramping up.
However, despite a high prevalence of AI in healthcare, most of this is focused in the imaging space. AI’s ability to recognize patterns has led to more uses on the imaging side, with algorithms trained on finding specific conditions and diseases within images. This use can potentially help doctors diagnose patients sooner.
Digging deeper, Americans were mixed in how they view AI when it came to specific healthcare uses. For instance, 40% of respondents said they believe AI would reduce the number of mistakes made by healthcare providers compared to 27% who said it would increase mistakes. Regarding race and bias in healthcare, 51% thought AI would make things better, while 15% said it would make things worse.
There is a majority opinion when it comes to the patient-provider relationship, as 57% of respondents said the use of AI for things like diagnosing disease and recommending treatments would make the relationship worse. Only 13% thought AI would improve the patient-provider relationship.
Around data security, Americans weren’t convinced by AI’s abilities: 37% said using AI in health and medicine would make the security of patients’ records worse, and only 22% thought it would improve security.
Overall, men, younger adults and those with higher levels of education were more positive about the impact of AI on patient outcomes than other groups, though “concern over the pace of AI adoption in health care is widely shared across groups in the public, including those who are the most familiar with [AI] technologies,” the survey found.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."