The use of AI in UK healthcare: Public perceptions and healthcare priorities (King's College London, May 2026)

Summary

This report examines the public's attitudes towards AI in healthcare – both its personal use and its role in clinical settings – revealing a public that is already engaging with AI technology, but with significant anxieties and divisions about how far it should go.

Content

Drawing on a major survey of the UK population, carried out with Focaldata, the study explores how people are already using AI chatbots for health advice, public attitudes to AI in NHS clinical decision-making, and what the public expect in terms of oversight, consent and accountability.

The findings highlight where public attitudes align with or diverge from the current reality of AI adoption in healthcare – exposing knowledge gaps, a strong demand for regulation, and a consistent divide between men and women that runs through almost every measure.

One in seven (15%) of the public have used AI chatbots for health advice instead of contacting a GP or other NHS service, and one in ten (10%) say they have used AI for mental health therapy or wellbeing support instead of seeing a trained professional.

But the findings raise questions about the risks of this shift. One in five (20%) of those who sought health advice from AI say the technology did not encourage them to seek a professional opinion – and a similar proportion (21%) report having decided against seeking professional healthcare advice because of something an AI chatbot said. This comes as recent evidence shows AI chatbots misdiagnose in up to 80% of early medical cases