Most adults don’t trust health care to use AI responsibly and without harm, survey finds

A study finds that 65.8% of adults surveyed had low trust in their health care system to use artificial intelligence responsibly and 57.7% had low trust in their health care systems to make sure an AI tool would not harm them.

The research letter was published in JAMA Network Open.

Adults who had higher levels of overall trust in their health care systems were more likely to believe their providers would protect them from AI-related harm.

The letter, authored by Jodyn Platt, Ph.D., of the Department of Learning Health Sciences at University of Michigan Medical School and Paige Nong, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health comes from survey of a nationally representative sample of adults from the National Opinion Research Center’s AmeriSpeak Panel from June to July 2023.

Additional insights include that female respondents were less likely than male respondents to trust their health care systems to use AI responsibility.

Health literacy or AI knowledge were not associated with trust in AI, suggesting that building trust in the use of AI will require meaningful engagement.

The authors note that future research should look at trust over time and with increased familiarity with AI.

Furthermore, health systems that adopt AI should increase or improve their communication about the tools used in patient care.