Technology

Nearly One-In-Six Americans Have Acted On AI Medical Advice Without Speaking To Human, Poll Shows

Darakshanehaluddin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Over 15% of Americans have previously made healthcare decisions based on advice from artificial intelligence programs without first consulting a human doctor, per an Insuranceopedia survey released Wednesday.

Almost one in six respondents, 15.2%, reported skipping, delaying, or seeking medical treatment based on AI advice, per the survey. By comparison, about 9% of Americans had paid, disputed or ignored a medical bill based on what an AI chatbot told them, while 8.9% had used AI advice to select or change a health insurance plan, the poll shows.

The new poll suggests that over 18% of respondents aged 18–24 made a medical bill-related decision based on recommendations from a chatbot, while about 15% of respondents aged 25–34 did the same.

“Our data show that education or digital literacy don’t make much difference when it comes to who is willing to take AI medical advice a step further and act on it without consulting a doctor. While this is clearly a risky trend, it seems that affordability, speed, and convenience are starting to outweigh professional advice,” Insuranceopedia CEO Max Coupland said in a statement.

Twenty-six percent of millennials said they would likely skip, postpone or seek medical treatment based solely on AI advice, according to the survey. Moreover, almost 19% of Americans aged 35 to 44 with health insurance reported having done the same thing.

While some proponents have asserted that AI could revolutionize the U.S. healthcare system, experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the technology could contribute to unaffordable medical costs.

Some companies have also recently been aiming to create new AI-driven tools for medical care. In June, major U.S.-based tech company Nvidia joined forces with Abridge, an “AI-native clinician intelligence platform,” to develop a new AI model for healthcare.

Insuranceopedia describes itself as a “US-focused insurance education and comparison platform built by insurance market professionals,” according to its website. Its poll surveyed 1,250 U.S. adults in July who presently have health insurance coverage using the Pollfish online panel. Respondents included people with employer-sponsored, marketplace, Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance.

The poll’s margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.