{"id":7075764,"date":"2026-10-04T15:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T15:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7075764"},"modified":"2026-10-04T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T15:15:13","slug":"one-in-two-americans-who-have-used-ai-believe-they-can-address-health-concerns-at-least-as-well-as-health-care-providers-the-2026-edelman-trust-barometer-look-at-ai-health-care-and-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7075764","title":{"rendered":"One in Two Americans Who Have Used AI Believe They Can Address Health Concerns At Least As Well As Health Care Providers – The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Look at AI, Health Care, and Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Consumers have placed their personal physicians above all health care touchpoints in their lives when it comes to trust stewards of and for health care information and data protection.<\/p>\n

More consumers have adopted the use of AI in every day life across many life flows, including their health care. The latest riff from the annual\u00a0Edelman Trust Barometer 2026 highlights a look into health and trust<\/a> in concert with the Yale School of Public Health.<\/p>\n

And they found that among AI users, one-half think AI can address their health concerns at least as well as doctors can.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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To gain global health citizens\u2019 perspectives on trust, health, and AI, the Edelman team polled 12,998 adults in 13 countries between late February and mid-March 2026. Countries covered included Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, S. Africa, S. Korea, the UK and the United States.<\/p>\n

The first chart reveals that 1-in-2 AI users\u2019 views on using the technology for health concerns in general. However, more granularly, consumers believe AI can handle particular tasks at least as well as a doctor such as 19% who cite triage care (that is, to assess whether and when they need to seek further medical advice), 19% to perform basic medical procedures or determine proper treatment or medication, and 16% to diagnose an illness or condition.<\/p>\n

The younger the population, the more likely health citizens are to feel AI can accomplish these health tasks at least as well as a doctor \u2014 believed by 59% of those 18 to 34 years of age compared with only 35% of people 55 and over. Formal education also makes a difference in this perspective, with 56% of those with at least a university education believing AI for health concerns can be at least as good as a physician compared with 42% of those with less than a university education.<\/p>\n

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Looking more deeply into the categories consumers deal with for their personal health decisions, the data also revealed that people more highly value their health care provider\u2019s (HCP\u2019s) source of truth for diagnoses, long-term treatments, and disease prevention than for diet and nutrition, and wellness and longevity. For these latter two areas of health decisions, global health citizens more favorably see uncredentialed sources compared with licensed physicians.<\/p>\n

Those uncredentialed sources include artificial intelligence (AI), creators without medical training (think: Tik-Top influencers without an MD or RN after their name), family and friends, people they know who have similar health conditions (such as Susannah Fox\u2019s community of peer-to-peer health care<\/a>), and spiritual leaders.<\/p>\n

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Health Populi\u2019s Hot Points:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 People are turning to AI in health care for a range of reasons: in the work I do at the intersection of consumers, technology, home economics, and health, more folks are likely to adopt AI for values of convenience, immediacy, attention, agency, access, and costs \u2014 which can be time costs, medical bill costs, and psychological stressors of disease taboos (say, for mental health, sextually transmitted diseases, gender, among others).<\/p>\n

Some of the Edelman data in this round of reporting and analysis points to the consumer\u2019s perception of whether the information source \u2014 focusing on the physician here \u2014 showing they are \u201clistening actively\u201d and \u201cunderstanding my situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over one-half of the global health citizens Edelman polled said that if a medical expert or HCP wanted me to follow a recommendation about which I had doubts, it would be important for them to,<\/p>\n