The majority of physicians surveyed by the AMA said they use augmented intelligence (AI) tools to stay up to date on medical research, create discharge orders, document consultations, and more. The 81% usage rate is more than double what it was when the AMA first surveyed physicians about health AI in 2023, and shows how quickly physicians’ comfort with this technology is growing as tools become more sophisticated.
“AI has quickly become a part of everyday medical practice,” said John Whyte, MD, MPH, CEO and Executive Vice President of the AMA. “Physicians have high expectations for its ability to support clinical decision-making and reduce administrative burden. However, as this technology advances, it is important that augmented intelligence is designed to augment, not replace, physicians.
“For physicians to trust and use these tools, they must be safe, effective, and used responsibly to truly improve patient care. The AMA will continue to lead this effort to help shape how physicians integrate AI into their healthcare,” Dr. White added.
Approximately 1,700 physicians from a variety of physician specialties, practices, and career stages responded to the 2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence (PDF) published by the new AMA Center for Digital Health and AI.
The AMA launched the Center for Digital Health and AI last fall to support physician leadership in shaping, guiding, and implementing technology that transforms healthcare. The AMA advocates for the development of high-quality, clinically validated AI that is deployed in a responsible, ethical, and transparent manner, with patient safety at the forefront.
Top uses of health AI by doctors
Doctors’ trust in AI (also known as artificial intelligence) continues to grow, according to an AMA survey. By 2026, more than three-quarters of physicians believe AI will improve their ability to care for patients, up from 65% in 2023. The most anticipated benefits are diagnostic accuracy and work efficiency.
Physicians surveyed most often cited using health AI to summarize medical research and stay up-to-date on standards of care, an increase of 33 points from the 2023 survey. According to a 2026 AMA survey, these physicians say they use health AI to:
- Medical research overview and standard of care – 39%.
- Preparing discharge instructions, care plans, and progress notes – 30%.
- Documentation of billing codes, medical records, and visit records – 28%.
- Generating chart summaries – 28%.
- Generating draft responses to patient portal messages – 19%.
- Translation services – 18%.
- Ancillary diagnosis—17%.
Seven in 10 physicians see AI as a tool to automate tasks that contribute to work-related burnout, and 76% say the technology will help improve patient care. About 40% of physicians said they were equally excited and concerned about AI, citing patient privacy and the health of the patient-physician relationship as their top concerns.
Doctors told the AMA that health AI could help:
- Work efficiency.
- Diagnostic ability.
- Cognitive overload.
- Clinical results.
- Patient convenience.
- Stress and burnout.
- Values-based care.
- Revenue.
Last year, JAMA Network® entered into a strategic content agreement with the OpenEvidence platform. The OpenEvidence platform estimates that 40% of U.S. physicians use health AI tools every day. This agreement permits all content published from: JAMA®, JAMA Network Open™ Eleven JAMA specialty journals, including full text and multimedia, are provided to inform the answers provided on the OpenEvidence platform.
When to be careful about health AI
Physicians surveyed were generally supportive of patients using AI for general health and medication questions, but most were wary of patients using it for tasks that require clinical judgment. Nearly half strongly opposed patients using AI to interpret radiology or pathology results.
Meanwhile, 88% of physicians reported being at least somewhat concerned about the decline in medical AI-related skills, and 70% said they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the decline in skills of currently training medical students and residents.
Physicians also emphasized the importance of data privacy (86%) and robust safety and efficacy validation (88%) for widespread adoption of AI. A clear accountability framework ranks highest among essential regulatory measures to build physician trust and increase adoption of AI tools. Another priority for physicians is shared ownership of medical AI implementation decisions, with 85% of physicians wanting to be consulted or directly involved in AI implementation decisions.
The AMA STEPS Forward® collection of digital health solutions provides physicians with insights on integrating AI into their workflows, establishing AI governance frameworks, reducing the burden of documentation with AI, and leveraging AI technology in healthcare.
