Data privacy, AI safety assurances key to physician adoption of AI
Data privacy, AI safety assurances key to physician adoption of AI
Publish Date: 2026-03-13 11:58:00
Source Domain: www.techtarget.com
While a majority of U.S. physicians are using AI in their practice, physicians are only cautiously optimistic about their use, citing concerns around patient privacy and skill loss, according to a new survey by the American Medical Association, or AMA.
The AMA polled 2,051 U.S. physicians for the 2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence. The association has conducted the survey annually since 2023.
The survey revealed that the proportion of physicians using AI increased to 72% in 2026, up from 48% in 2024 and 38% in 2023. The average number of AI use cases per physician also increased from 1.1 in 2023 to 2.3 in 2026.
Summarizing medical research and standards of care is the most popular AI use case, with 39% of respondents reporting that they use AI for this purpose. Other popular use cases include creation of discharge instructions, care plans and/or progress notes (30%), documentation of billing codes, medical charts or visit notes (28%) and generation of chart summaries (28%).
Physicians cited numerous benefits of AI use, including enhanced work efficiency and diagnostic accuracy, as well as reduced cognitive overload. In fact, 73% of physicians believe that AI can help reduce administrative workload through automation, and 70% report that AI will help offload or replace some clinical tasks, relieving drivers of burnout.
However, despite the overall increase in utilization, physicians remain cautious about AI use. Only 37% of physicians reported being more excited than concerned about the increased use of AI in their professional lives, a marginal increase from 35% in 2024.
Patient privacy remains a top concern among physicians regarding AI use, with 41% reporting that AI use will harm patient privacy. Meanwhile, physicians are split on whether AI use will harm or help the physician-patient relationship, with 34% reporting the former and 38% the latter. Additionally, 88% of respondents said they are concerned about skill loss, with 70% of…
