Americans are more comfortable with AI handling healthcare administration and supporting tests than making decisions about diagnoses or insurance claims. A Pew Research Center survey reported by CBS News also found that many people are unsure whether AI has already been used in their care.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
Pew surveyed more than 3,400 US adults in June, CBS News reports. A majority were comfortable with AI translating patient notes or scheduling appointments. More than half were open to AI analysing scans and lab results when a healthcare professional supervised it.
The welcome thinned when AI was asked to make consequential decisions. Almost half said they did not want AI deciding whether to accept or reject an insurance claim, and 41% did not want it making a diagnosis on its own. Overall, 60% were uncomfortable with doctors using AI for tasks such as diagnosis and treatment, while 30% were comfortable and 10% unsure. Separately, 46% said they did not know whether AI had ever been used in their care.
Why it matters
The survey points to a distinction patients may care about more than whether a clinic uses AI at all: what the system does, who supervises it and whether the patient is told. People may accept help with paperwork or analysis while resisting software having the final say over treatment or coverage.
That makes disclosure a practical issue, not just a matter of reassuring language. If patients cannot tell when AI is involved, they cannot judge the role it played or ask who was responsible for the decision.
Our read
This is a useful snapshot of public attitudes, not a vote on whether any particular healthcare tool works. The clearest signal is that people appear more open to assistance than to handing over the decision. Clinics and insurers should explain where AI fits into a process, who checks its work and who makes the final call. “We use AI” is not much of an explanation; the important detail is what it is allowed to decide.
What to watch
- Whether healthcare providers make AI use visible to patients.
- Whether AI-assisted analysis keeps a qualified professional in the decision loop.
- Whether insurers explain the role of AI in claim decisions.
Discussion spark: Should healthcare providers have to tell patients whenever AI contributes to their care, even when a professional makes the final decision?
Sources and evidence
- Americans wary of AI in healthcare for diagnoses and insurance claims, survey finds – CBS News (5 November 2026, 16:07 UTC)
- Source update (5 November 2026, 16:07 UTC)
Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.