More than four in five physicians are regularly using AI in their practices—a figure that has doubled since 2023, according to new research by the American Medical Association.
In its recent Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence, the AMA assessed the adoption, perceptions and anticipated impacts of AI in physicians’ daily practice. A total of 1,692 physicians were surveyed across specialties, practice settings and career stages.
Here are 10 takeaways from the survey:
1. Physicians reporting awareness or use of AI in their practice rose to 81% for 2026, com[ared with 38% in 2023.
2. More than three-quarters of physicians told the AMA that they use an AI system at least once a week for personal activities, with a third using it daily.
3. Here is a breakdown of physicians AI use cases in 2026:
- Summaries of medical research and standards of care: 39%
- Creation of discharge instructions, care plans and/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%
4. Among physicians who considered each use case relevant to their practice, a large share began incorporating AI tools within the last year, with many more expecting to implement AI in 2026.
5. Physicians’ overall sentiment toward AI is tending positive. Seventy-six percent of physicians see AI as an advantage to patient care, with 37% saying they are more excited about AI than concerned. Another 40% remain as excited as they do concerned about AI’s impact on clinical practice.
6. Physicians said AI would have a positive impact on efficiency, diagnostic ability, cognitive overload, clinical outcomes, patient convenience, burnout, value-based care and revenue. The only areas that physicians said would be negatively impacted by AI were the patient-physician relationship and patient privacy.
7. Physicians do remain concerned about skill loss as a consequence of AI use, with 88% responding that they were very, somewhat or mildly concerned.
8. More than 70% of physicians said AI would help reduce burnout by offloading some clinical tasks or reducing administrative workloads.
9. Physicians reported limited disclosure from patients about AI use: 29% have not had a single patient disclose it, and only 8% say that most of their patients openly acknowledge using AI. Yet 30% believe most of their patients are likely using AI.
10. Respondents were most comfortable with patients using AI for questions about medications and side effects and general health questions. However, 49% would never or rarely want patients using AI to interpret pathology, and 46% would never want patients using it to interpret radiology results.
