The trend: GenAI is becoming a routine part of how consumers search for health information.

• 35% of adults already use AI tools to gain insight into their health and wellness, and 27% are considering it, per a May 2025 survey from The Vitamin Shoppe and Talker Research.

Editor’s note: This article is part of our Health Trends to Watch in 2026 report. Read the report in full here.

Unpacking the trend: For many consumers, AI is perceived as a better tool than search engines for health discussions that require follow-up or tailored, specific questions.

• 31% of current or potential AI health users said it’s easier to use AI than search engines when asking specific questions, per The Vitamin Shoppe/Talker.
• The top reasons people currently use AI for health and wellness include: better understanding a health condition (31%), planning meals (25%), and learning about new exercise routines (23%).

Why it matters: AI’s uneven reliability heightens the risk of medical misinformation and misguided decisions, especially for people who may gain a false sense of security by over-relying on it for health guidance.

• Physicians deem 22% to 43% of leading AI chatbot responses to patients’ medical questions problematic and another 5% to 13% unsafe, according to a clinician-led study published in July 2025.
• 32% of people who use AI to look up medical symptoms would put off going to the doctor if an AI tool assessed their symptoms to be low risk, per a November 2025 study from Asbestos.

Implications for healthcare providers and marketers: AI is poised to become the new “Dr. Google,” as physicians see more patients using it for medical advice and self-diagnosis.

Doctors are already anecdotally reporting that more patients are coming to appointments with information and questions gathered from AI tools—-and nearly one-quarter of these clinicians said the technology’s advice conflicts with their own, per a December 2024 Tebra survey.

Physicians should ask patients about their use of AI for health information, while provider groups’ marketers position their organizations as the primary source of medical guidance and create online resources explaining how AI-generated information may be outdated, incomplete, or incorrect.

Read next: Click here to read our complete list of predictions for consumer AI health trends in 2025.