US doctors scoot toward 100% AI adoption

A new Doximity survey shows 94% of American physicians using AI or at least keen on it. Just as tellingly, the pace of adoption is brisk and accelerating. 

At the same time, almost three-quarters worry about AI’s accuracy and reliability, nearly half fret over its legal and regulatory uncertainty and 42% look askance at its ethical angles.

The social media platform for healthcare professionals, which counts among its verified U.S. members 85% of physicians and 65% of advanced practice providers, reports the findings in a report posted March 18.

Doximity says more than 3,100 physicians across 15 specialties completed the survey in both of two periods—March through April of 2025 and November 2025 through January 2026. 

The service broke up the project in order to gauge the trajectory of physician AI adoption over a short period of time in its blossoming. 

Among the key findings in the comparison:

• In the more recent time window, ending in January of this year, 63% of respondents said they were currently using AI for work. That figure represents a jump of 16% over just the nine months since Doximity’s previous AI check-in, when 47% were using AI in their practice.
   
• The slice of physicians who reported being interested in AI but not yet using it fell from 47% to 31%.
   
• The portion of physicians who are flatly uninterested in AI held steady at 5%. 

The latter finding may suggest a changing of the guard is inevitable albeit not imminent.  The age group with the least AI adoption, 29%, is 70 or older. 

Meanwhile physicians under 30 have the highest AI adoption rate at 61%. 

All other age groups clock in at over or close to the 50% mark. Physicians in their 30s and 40s are tied at 57% adoption, those in their 50s are at 55% and even 60-somethings have a 46% adoption rate. 

From neurologists to dermatologists, doctors are eager AI adopters 

Of the 15 specialties included in the survey, the top adopters are neurology (64%), gastroenterology (61%), internal medicine (60%), family medicine (58%), cardiology (58%), oncology (57%) and rheumatology (56%). 

In the middle of the pack and topping the 50% mark are endocrinology (52%) and urology (52%). 

Bringing up the rear yet still making strong showings are nephrology (49%), pulmonology (49%), psychiatry (47%), physical medicine & rehabilitation (47%) and dermatology (46%).

Curiously missing from the survey is radiology. The latest FDA update on AI-enabled medical devices shows radiology way out ahead of all other specialties on clinical AI algorithms cleared and on the market. Of 1,451 such products, more than 1,100 are intended for radiologists. Another 100 are imaging-oriented but listed under other specialties. 

Doximity doesn’t explain the omission.

Less administrative burden, more job satisfaction 

Other noteworthy findings in the March 18 report include:

• More than a third of physicians, 37%, report using AI at least daily.
   
• Literature search is the most common use case (35% in the January 2026 cohort, up from 22% in April 2025).
   
• Voice-based documentation, including ambient listening and AI scribes, rose to 29% of physicians (up from 20%) over the study periods.
   
• Three-quarters (75%) of physician AI users reported that AI has already reduced administrative workload and improved job satisfaction.
   
• Two-thirds (69%) of physician AI users said the technology has contributed to improved patient care and outcomes.
   
• The majority (90%) of all physicians surveyed said AI has the potential to reduce “pajama time,” the after-hours administrative work that contributes to burnout. Nearly one-fourth (23%) say it already has.

Doximity has posted the report in full for free.