The trend: Most consumers who use AI for health purposes rely on it as a research tool around doctor visits, but some turn to the tech because they lack access to traditional care, according to a new West Health-Gallup Center survey of 5,660 US adults.

Unpacking the trend: Among those who used AI for health information in the past month, the top uses are getting quick answers to health questions (71%) and seeking guidance before (59%) and after (56%) medical appointments.

But others aren’t just using AI to supplement care—they’re using it to fill gaps left by limited access to physicians or waning trust in them.

• 27% said they turned to AI for health because they didn’t want to pay for a doctor’s visit, while 14% did so because they couldn’t pay for one.
• 21% said they didn’t have time for an appointment.
• 16% said they couldn't access an appointment.
• 21% said they used AI because a provider had previously dismissed them.
• 18% were too embarrassed to talk to a doctor in person.

Why it matters: Our forecasts project that there will be roughly 46 million people using AI for health information this year. This means millions may be using AI as a quasi-replacement for a doctor.

Despite high rates of usage, users remain skeptical of AI outputs.

• In the West Health–Gallup poll, more AI health users distrust AI-generated answers (34%) than trust them (33%), and just 4% say they “strongly” trust them.

Research continues to prove that AI-generated health information isn’t always accurate, which presents a major problem as more users turn to it for health advice. Widely used chatbots, including ChatGPT and Gemini, were found to give problematic medical advice about half the time when answering questions on misinformation-prone topics such as vaccines, cancer, and nutrition, according to findings published this week in the journal BMJ Open. For context, the research was conducted about a year ago, so AI model reliability has likely improved since then.

Implications for healthcare providers and marketers: AI is now too convenient and accessible for consumers to stop using it for health information. Doctors generally welcome this, as it can help patients become more engaged in their care, and it helps that chatbots often include source links for users to verify. However, people who turn to AI as a substitute for medical care due to cost or access barriers not only bypass doctors but may also act on flawed guidance.

Healthcare marketers must educate patients on how to use AI safely for health advice, when to escalate to a human, and how to identify problematic outputs. Provider organizations that haven’t yet should deploy their own AI chatbots to keep patient interactions within a more controlled environment, enabling better oversight, timely intervention, and reduced risk of patients following poor guidance from general-purpose tools.