The vast majority of physicians surveyed by the AMA say they are using augmented intelligence (AI) tools to stay on top of medical research, create discharge instructions, document medical visits and more. The 81% use rate is more than double what it was when the AMA first polled doctors on health AI in 2023, showing how physicians’ comfort with this technology has grown rapidly as the tools have become more sophisticated.
“AI has quickly become part of everyday medical practice,” said AMA CEO and Executive Vice President John Whyte, MD, MPH. “Physicians see real promise in its ability to support clinical decisions and cut down on administrative burden. But as this technology advances, it is critical that augmented intelligence be designed to enhance—not replace—physicians.
“For doctors to trust and use these tools, they must be safe, effective and used responsibly so they truly improve patient care. The AMA will continue leading this work so physicians help shape how AI is integrated into medicine,” added Dr. Whyte.
More than 2,000 doctors from across a diverse range of physician specialties, practice settings and career stages responded to the “2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence” (PDF), which was issued 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 technologies transforming medicine. The AMA advocates the development of high-quality, clinically validated AI that is deployed in a responsible, ethical, and transparent manner with patient safety being the first and foremost concern.
Physicians’ top uses for health AI
Physician confidence in AI—often called artificial intelligence—continues to grow, the AMA survey shows. In 2026, more than three-quarters of physicians believe AI improves their ability to care for patients, up from 65% in 2023. The greatest expected advantages are in diagnostic accuracy and work efficiency.
The use of health AI to summarize medical research and get updated on standards of care was most frequently cited by the doctors polled, rising by 33 percentage points from the 2023 survey. According to the 2026 AMA survey, these shares of physicians said they are using health AI for:
- Summaries of medical research and standards of care—39%.
- Creation of discharge instructions, care plans or progress notes—30%.
- Documentation of billing codes, medical charts or visit notes—28%.
- Generation of chart summaries—28%.
- Generation of draft responses to patient portal messages—19%.
- Translation services—18%.
- Assistive 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 can help with patient care. About 40% of physicians said they are equally excited and concerned about AI, citing patient privacy and the integrity of the patient-physician relationship as top concerns.
Physicians told the AMA that health AI is likely to help with:
- Work efficiency.
- Diagnostic ability.
- Cognitive overload.
- Clinical outcomes.
- Patient convenience.
- Stress and burnout.
- Value-based care.
- Revenue.
Last year, the JAMA Network® signed a strategic content agreement with the OpenEvidence platform, which estimates that 40% of U.S. doctors use the health AI tool daily. The agreement allows all published content from JAMA®, JAMA Network Open™ and the 11 JAMA specialty journals—including full text and multimedia—to inform answers delivered on the OpenEvidence platform.
Where caution is warranted on health AI
The physicians surveyed were generally supportive of patient use of AI for general health and medication questions, but most were wary of patient use for tasks requiring clinical judgment. Nearly half strongly opposed patients using AI to interpret radiology or pathology results.
Meanwhile, 88% of doctors reported having at least some concern about health AI-related skill loss, with 70% saying they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the loss of physician skills among the medical students and residents being trained today.
Doctors also emphasized the importance of data privacy (86%) and robust safety and efficacy validation (88%) as critical for broader AI adoption. Clear liability frameworks rank highest among regulatory actions essential to build physician trust and increase adoption of AI tools. Another physician priority is shared ownership of health AI-adoption decisions, with 85% of doctors wanting to be consulted or directly involved in decisions about AI adoption.
The AMA STEPS Forward® collection of digital health solutions offers insights for physicians on integrating AI into workflows, establishing an AI governance framework, reducing documentation burden with AI and navigating AI technology in health care.
