More doctors are now using AI

For the survey, AMA collected responses from 1,183 physicians in November 2024 to gauge their feelings about AI in healthcare.

According to the survey, AI use by physicians increased significantly between 2023 and 2024. In 2024, 66% of physicians said they used AI, a large jump from the 38% who said the same in 2023. According to AMA, clinician adoption of AI was "unusually fast," and there was a significant increase in the percentage of physicians who said they were already using or planning to use different AI tools in the near term.

Some of the top uses for AI among physicians were visit documentation, discharge summaries, care plans, translation services, and summaries of medical research and standards of care.

According to the respondents, the biggest area of opportunity for AI was addressing administrative burdens, followed by augmenting physician capacity. In general, AI documentation tools were more likely to be incorporated into physicians' practices than other types of AI tools. 

Respondents also highlighted several areas where AI tools could be useful, including work efficiency, stress and burnout, and cognitive overload.

Physicians also noted some key attributes that would help increase AI adoption, including a designated channel for feedback, an assurance of data privacy, EHR integration, and proper training and education. 

"The AMA survey illustrates that physicians are increasingly intrigued by the assistive role of health AI and the potential of AI-enable[d] tools to reduce administrative burdens, enhance diagnostic accuracy, and personalize treatments," said Jesse Ehrenfeld, AMA's immediate past president. "But there remain unresolved physician concerns with the design of health AI and the potential of flawed AI-enabled tools to put privacy at risk, integrate poorly with EHR systems, offer incorrect conclusions or recommendations, and introduce new liability concerns. Increased oversight ranked as the top regulatory action needed to increase physician confidence and adoption of AI."