An executive in the diagnostic technology industry told Dark Daily he took keen interest in a recent Gallup poll about Americans’ comfort with artificial intelligence (AI).
In particular, one poll result caught the attention of Nathan Buchbinder, co-founder and chief strategy officer at digital pathology AI company Proscia: Americans seem to have increased their comfort with AI in healthcare and its ability to provide medical advice.
“People aren’t happy with the status quo in healthcare,” Buchbinder said. “I think their perception of AI reflects recent advances in technology as well as broader optimism about how AI can fix some of the pain points they encounter as patients.”
Exploring the public’s opinions about AI in healthcare
Gallup and Bentley University conducted an online survey of 3,270 US adults in May 2026. When asked how well AI can provide medical advice compared to a person, respondents replied:
- Worse than a person—57% (this was 62% in 2023)
- Same as a person—31% (27% in 2023)
- Better than a person—12% (11% in 2023)
The results are unusual within the overall survey. Recommending medical advice, giving financial advice, and driving a car were three areas in which respondents noticeably changed their opinions over time about AI’s ability to perform compared to humans, Gallup noted.
“This speaks volumes in healthcare more broadly, and in pathology specifically, to the systemic challenges that we've been talking about for ages,” Buchbinder observed. “Patients often believe healthcare is slow and uncertain, and pricing is not aligned with the sense of what value gets delivered.”
He interpreted the results as an early indicator that if patients trust AI to answer their questions, they may also trust it to solve efficiency- or quality-related challenges in healthcare and diagnostics.”
Harm versus good of artificial intelligence is debated
Generally, 52% of Americans believe AI does equal amounts of harm and good, while 39% said it does more harm than good and 11% said it does more good than harm, according to the Gallup-Bentley survey.
Asked if he trusted AI in healthcare to lead patients and caregivers in the right direction with medical decisions, Buchbinder said he views the technology as a tool to help pathologists and other physicians make decisions, with experts firmly in charge. His company, Proscia, embeds AI into its digital pathology platform.
“The industry is not at the point where AI is going to take over the world, run labs automatically, and provide an automated diagnosis that doesn't require a re-review,” he added. “Nor do I think that's a desirable endpoint. The role of AI should be to elevate the experts making the decisions that only they can make.”
