The latest KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll has found that while many adults use artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for health information and advice, most remain skeptical as to whether they actually trust the information it provides.
KFF researchers surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,428 adults in the U.S. in June 2024 on their interactions with AI, including the frequency in which they use it, their confidence in the information it provides, and its overall impact.
“While most of the attention around AI in health is focused on how it can transform medical practice and create new business opportunities, consumers are also using it, and the jury is still out on whether it will empower or confuse them,” said KFF President and CEO Drew Altman in a statement. “At KFF, our focus will be on how AI and other information technologies affect people.”
While AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft CoPilot, have become increasingly popular and available, KFF’s poll revealed just how wary the public feels when it comes to AI.
5 key poll findings include:
- Most adults (64 percent) say they have used or interacted with AI, with one in three (34% percent) using it at least several times a week.
- Most adults (56 percent) are not confident that they can tell the difference between what is true and what is false when it comes to information AI chatbots provide.
- About one in six (17 percent) adults use AI chatbots at least once a month for health information and advice, 25 percent of those being under the age of 30.
- While about half of the public say they trust AI chatbots to provide reliable information on practical tasks, such as cooking and home maintenance and on technology, fewer say they trust chatbots to provide reliable health (29 percent) or political information (19 percent). Even among those who use AI, a small portion say they trust chatbots to provide reliable information about health (36 percent) or politics (24 percent).
- About one in five adults (23 percent) say AI is doing more to hurt those seeking accurate health information while a similar portion (21 percent) say it is doing more to help those efforts. A majority of the public (55 percent), including half of those who use or interact with AI (49 percent), say they are unsure of the impact of AI on those seeking health information.