4PROFIT HEALTHCARE

Millions of Americans now consult AI before, after — and sometimes instead of — seeing a doctor

Over half of recent AI users say they research health questions before or after seeing a doctor, though most still prefer a provider for sensitive conversations

West Health Institute

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — April 15, 2026 — One in four U.S. adults — the equivalent of over 66 million Americans — report having used artificial intelligence tools or chatbots for physical or mental healthcare information or advice, according to new research released today from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America. Rather than replacing traditional care, more than half say they turn to AI to supplement their healthcare experiences, using the technology before or after seeing a doctor.

The findings are based on a nationally representative survey of more than 5,500 U.S. adults conducted from October through December 2025.

In the past 30 days, did you use an AI tool or chatbot for health-related information or advice for any of the following reasons?

% Yes, among adults who have used AI tools or chatbots for health-related information or advice in the past 30 days

Category	Reason	U.S. adult AI health users
Speed and self-directed research	I wanted answers quickly	71%
	I wanted additional information	71%
	I was curious about what AI would say	67%
	I prefer to research on my own before seeing a doctor	59%
	I prefer to research on my own after seeing a doctor	56%
Cost barriers	I didn’t want to pay for a doctor’s visit	27%
	I was unable to pay for a doctor’s visit	14%
Access barriers	I didn’t have time to make an appointment	21%
	I couldn’t access a doctor or provider	16%
	I wanted help outside normal business hours	42%
Quality and stigma barriers	I felt dismissed or ignored by a provider in the past	21%
	I was too embarrassed to talk to a person	18%

Note. Categories are for descriptive purposes only and were not shown on the survey.             

Among Americans who have used AI for health-related information or advice in the past 30 days, the most frequently cited motivations are wanting answers quickly (71%) and wanting additional information (71%). Nearly seven in 10 (67%) say they were curious about what AI would say, and roughly six in 10 report using AI to do research on their own before (59%) or after (56%) seeing a doctor.

Regardless of the reason, almost half (46%) of Americans who used AI for healthcare information say the AI tool or chatbot made them feel more confident talking with or asking questions of a provider. Others say it helped them identify issues earlier (22%) or avoid unnecessary medical tests or procedures (19%).

“Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how Americans seek health information, make decisions and engage with providers, and health systems must keep pace,” said Tim Lash, President, West Health Policy Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focused on aging and healthcare affordability. “The risk isn’t that AI is moving too fast — it’s that health systems may move too slowly to guide its use in healthcare responsibly.”

A Smaller Share Turn to AI in Place of a Provider

While self-directed research is the primary driver of AI health use, a smaller but notable share of recent users report turning to AI instead of seeing a healthcare provider, particularly when faced with cost, access or quality barriers. Among recent AI health users, 27% say they didn't want to pay for a doctor's visit and 14% say they were unable to pay. One in five (21%) say they didn't have time to make an appointment, and 16% say they couldn't access a doctor or provider. Another 21% say they felt dismissed or ignored by a provider in the past, and 18% say they were too embarrassed to talk to a person.

 

In the past 30 days, did you use an AI tool or chatbot for health-related information or advice for any of the following reasons?

% Yes, among adults who have used AI for health-related information and advice in the past 30 days

I was unable to pay for a doctor’s visit

Household Income	% Yes, Among adults who have used AI for health-related information and advice in the past 30 days
<$24k	32%
$24k - <$48k	21%
$48k - <$90k	14%
$90k - <$120k	9%
$120k - <$180k	8%
$180k+	2%

Among recent AI health users, 84% still saw a healthcare provider, but 14% report not seeing a provider they otherwise would have seen because of information or advice they received from AI. When projected to the full U.S. adult population, this represents roughly 14 million Americans who did not see a provider after receiving AI-generated health information.

Trust in that AI-generated health information, however, remains divided. Among those who consulted it in the past 30 days, roughly one-third say they trust it (33%), one-third neither trust nor distrust it (33%), and about one-third distrust it (34%). However, only 4% say they strongly trust the accuracy, indicating that many Americans are making healthcare decisions based on AI-generated information without full confidence in its accuracy.

About one in 10 (11%) who report using AI for health information or advice in the past 30 days say that AI recommended healthcare information or advice they believed was unsafe.

"This data indicates that while some Americans may be using artificial intelligence as a substitute for going to the doctor's office, many see it as a tool to complement their healthcare, helping them understand symptoms they might be feeling and clarify any diagnosis they receive from their doctors," said Joe Daly, Global Managing Partner at Gallup.

Motivations Vary by Age and Income

While information-seeking is the dominant reason Americans turn to AI for health purposes, use patterns differ by demographics. Younger adults are more likely than older adults to use AI for self-directed research — 69% of adults aged 18 to 29 say they do research before seeing a doctor, compared with 43% of those 65 and older.

Income differences are most visible in barrier-driven motivations. Among adults earning less than $24,000 annually, 32% say they used AI because they could not pay for a doctor's visit, compared with just 2% among those earning $180,000 or more.

Everyday Health Questions Top the List of AI Use Cases

Americans who used AI for health information or advice in the past 30 days most often report using it to gather information about everyday health concerns, including physical symptoms (58%) and nutrition or exercise (59%). But AI use extends beyond symptom-checking — Americans who used AI in the past 30 days also report using AI to understand medication side effects (46%), interpret medical information (44%), or research a diagnosis or medical condition (38%). Nearly one in four (24%) report using AI to explore mental health or emotional concerns.

Methodology

West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare, October-December 2025

Results are based on a Gallup Panel study conducted Oct. 27-Dec. 22, 2025, with a sample of 5,660 adults aged 18 and older who are members of the Gallup Panel, a nationally representative, probability-based panel of U.S. adults. Gallup uses random selection methods to recruit Panel members, including random-digit-dial (RDD) phone interviews that cover landlines and cellphones and address-based sampling (ABS) methods. Respondents with internet access completed the questionnaire as a web survey, and those without regular internet access were sent a printed questionnaire to complete and return by mail. The sample for this study was weighted to be demographically representative of the U.S. adult population, using the most recent Current Population Survey figures. For results based on this sample, one can say that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Margins of error are higher for subsamples. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error and bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

About the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America

The Center on Healthcare in America is a joint initiative from West Health and Gallup dedicated to elevating the voices and experiences of Americans within the healthcare system. Through rigorous research and human-centered storytelling, the Center aims to drive actionable insights and inform policy solutions nationwide. Visit westhealth.gallup.comhttp://www.westhealth.gallup.com/.

About West Health

Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health is a family of nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations that include the Gary and Mary West Foundation and Gary and Mary West Health Institute in San Diego and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. West Health is dedicated to lowering healthcare costs to enable seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality and affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. Learn more at westhealth.org.

About Gallup

Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining 90 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.

 

New method can reduce risk of violating Sámi rights

Stockholm Environment Institute

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The graph shows the six preconditions required to ensure the rights of the Sami: Continuous and interconnected pastures, access to traditional winter pastures, traditional use of seasonal pastures, grazing peace and access to natural grazing, traditional knowledge is kept alive and Sámi youth can continue traditional livelihood. Current status at top and impact of the Per Geijer project at bottom.

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Credit: SEI

A new method developed by researchers at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) can help identify and reduce the risk of rights violations linked to industrial projects on the traditional lands of Sámi reindeer herding communities. Based on a case study of LKAB's planned mining project Per Geijer, the method highlights significant risks to human rights.

The report is the result of a research collaboration with the Gabna Sámi reindeer herding community, contributing knowledge on land use and insights into the cultural values linked to natural grazing-based reindeer herding, including the need for reindeer to move freely across extensive, connected grazing lands. These landscapes are essential for safeguarding Sámi rights.

The method, including the risk assessment framework and the analysis of both current impacts and future risks, was developed by SEI researchers. The study was funded by Formas, NordForsk and Mistra.

"Taken together, we see significant risks of violations of the Sámi reindeer herding community members' right to land and culture, as well as several examples of LKAB failing in its obligation to respect the Sámi community's right to effective participation. In view of the project's extensive impact, explicit consent from the Sámi community is probably needed for the project to be permissible under international Indigenous rights law," says Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, Senior Researcher at SEI.  

Previous research shows that mining and other natural resource extraction often entail risks for both the environment and people, particularly Indigenous Peoples. The new method enables companies to carry out rights-based risk assessments for industrial projects on Sámi lands, helping to prevent rights violations and ensure the protection of Sámi rights.

It identifies six key preconditions for ensuring a Sámi community's collective rights to land and culture when land is subject to competing land-use claims.

"Gabna is already extensively affected by both LKAB's and others' activities around Kiruna. We believe that the Per Geijer project would further cause major or serious impacts on virtually all preconditions examined, as the reindeer herding community’s pastures would be divided,” says Carl Österlin, Researcher at SEI.

“Before further exploitation can be considered, extensive measures are required to ensure sufficient land for reindeer to move freely around Kiruna and for coordinated seasonal migration past Kiruna." 

The method can be applied to projects affecting other Sámi herding communities but must be adapted in dialogue with those affected. There can be considerable differences between Sámi communities in terms of seasonal migration patterns and possibilities to protect or restore conditions for natural grazing-based reindeer herding.

Existing guidelines for risk assessment, current mining industry practices as regards analyses of impacts on reindeer herding and the evidence base used by licensing authorities have often been criticised. The new method offers a way forward, but further development and practical application is needed to ensure adequate assessments of human rights risks in Sápmi in line with international standards.

"Our hope is that the report can contribute to better risk assessments, better protection of Sámi rights and a fairer management of land use linked to energy and mineral policy," says Rasmus Kløcker Larsen.

The report also highlights that:

• Greater transparency is needed regarding the scope of strategic mining projects. At present, such information is not disclosed to researchers, Sámi communities or other stakeholders by either the European Commission or applicant companies.
• It must be clarified what legislative and policy measures politicians and authorities are prepared to take to ensure Sámi rights holders are guaranteed influence over land-use planning before companies apply for permits.

About the report and the case study

The report Assessing how to handle mining projects and their risks to Indigenous rights in a reindeer herding context (in Swedish) explains how a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) can be used to assess and address risks to Indigenous rights linked to reindeer herding.

The case study focuses on of the state-owned mining company LKAB's application for a mining concession for the Per Geijer deposit, one of the first extraction projects in Sweden designated by the European Commission as a strategic project under the Critical Raw Materials Act.

According to the state's ownership policy, LKAB is expected to lead the industry in corporate responsibility. The company was invited to contribute information and to conduct factchecking prior to publication but declined.

The responsibility for ensuring adequate impact assessments for the Per Geijer project rests with LKAB. The company submitted its application for a mining concession in June 2024 and must supplement it with a reindeer herding analysis by 1 May 2026. To date, no HRIA has been carried out for the project.

For more information, please contact:

Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, Senior Research Fellow, SEI, rasmus.klocker.larsen@sei.org
Carl Österlin, Research Fellow, SEI, carl.osterlin@sei.org
Ulrika Lamberth, Senior Press Officer, SEI, ulrika.lamberth@sei.org, + 46 73 801 7053
Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, Chairman, Gabna Sámi Village, samebygabna@gmail.com

Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research institute that tackles climate, environment and sustainable development challenges. We empower partners to meet these challenges through cutting-edge research, knowledge, tools and capacity building. Through SEI’s HQ and seven centres around the world, we engage with policy, practice and development action for a sustainable, prosperous future for all. www.sei.org 

 

Deep earthquakes triggered by the olivine-poirierite transition

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ehime University

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Left: Recovered sample. Red dashed lines represent faults developed in the sample. Right: poirierite grains formed in a deformed olivine crystal.

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Credit: Tomohiro Ohuchi

Seismicity decreases with depth because elevated confining pressure prevents frictional sliding of faults. However, seismicity tends to increase with depth in the mantle transition zone (depths of 410−600km). It has been believed that pressure-induced phase transitions of olivine in the ‘cold’ subducted slabs is the cause of high seismicity in the mantle transition zone.

The mechanism of deep earthquake has been studied for four decades. It has been considered that the pressure-induced phase transition of olivine induces shear localization to spinel-filled lens, followed by a deep earthquake. This ‘transformational faulting’ model has been experimentally tested by researchers using germanite olivine or mantle olivine. However, the olivine-ringwoodite transition is too sluggish to induce deep earthquakes in the cold core of the deep subducted slabs (600ºC), such as the Mariana slab, if we assume the diffusion-controlled nucleation of ringwoodite on olivine grain boundaries. A plausible explanation for the olivine-ringwoodite transition in the cold deep slabs may be the diffusionless pseudo-martensitic transition (i.e., shear transition) of olivine to ringwoodite. Recent studies showed that an intermediate structure of poirierite needs to be formed when the diffusionless shear transition of olivine-ringwoodite proceeds.

We conducted deformation experiments on metastable olivine under the pressure-temperature conditions of deep subducted slabs. We carefully observed the faulted olivine samples, which were obtained in our experiments, and we found poirierite grains in the fault gouge. The observed crystallographic orientations of poirierite and olivine grains are consistent with a theoretical model. The poirierite grains transform to ringwoodite as a result of shear deformation. Release of quite high latent heat via the poirierite-ringwoodite transition can induce a significant weakening of the fault gouge, without the aid of grain-size-sensitive creep, resulting in the occurrence of faulting. The diffusionless phase transition of olivine to ringwoodite via poirierite is effective not only at high temperatures but at low temperatures. Our findings provide a natural explanation for the cause of high seismicity in the strongly deformed areas of ‘cold’ deep subducted slabs.

Left and center: kinking (i.e., shear deformation) of an olivine crystal at pressures greater than 15 GPa results in the formation of a poirierite crystal. Right: Further shear transition of poirierite to ringwoodite associates a significant latent heat release, resulting in faulting.

Seismicity is high in the strongly deformed areas in the deep subducted slabs. Our model (i.e,. shear transition of olivine to ringwoodite via poirierite) provides a natural explanation for the cause of high seismicity in the strongly deformed areas of deep subducted slabs.

Credit

Tomohiro Ohuchi

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adu5181 

From lab to industry: 3D printing accelerates the future of lithium batteries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University

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Overview of the historical development of lithium batteries. 

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Credit: ©Eric Jianfeng Cheng et al.

Recent progress in advanced energy manufacturing has opened a new path for lithium battery design. A joint research team led by Associate Professor Eric Jianfeng Cheng of Tohoku University has published a major review in Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports on March 30, 2026, that highlights the potential, the pitfalls, and different perspectives of 3D printing's role in manufacturing lithium batteries. The article provides a systematic roadmap for how 3D printing may redefine next-generation lithium batteries.

The review shows that 3D printing can move battery manufacturing beyond the geometric limits of conventional coating-based production. Instead of relying on flat, stacked shapes, 3D printing enables precise control over three-dimensional structures. This topology-driven design can shorten ion-transport pathways, improve electron conduction, reduce local stress concentration during cycling, and enhance mechanical robustness. In this sense, 3D printing is not simply a new processing method, but a way to redesign how electrochemical performance is built into battery structure itself.

The paper places particular emphasis on all-solid-state lithium batteries, where both energy density and interface quality are critical. For these systems, the challenge is not merely to print battery components, but to fabricate thin, structurally precise solid-electrolyte architectures while maintaining low interfacial resistance and reliable ionic transport. The review critically analyzes the key scientific bottlenecks involved, especially the trade-off between high ceramic filler content, ink rheology, sub-100-micrometer structural fidelity, and interfacial integrity in composite solid electrolytes.

"We believe the next stage of progress will depend on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with 3D printing," says Siraprapha Deebansok (Tohoku University). "The guidance of data-driven AI can help us move away from trial-and-error, and towards intelligent manufacturability."

This research provides one of the most comprehensive roadmaps to date for applying 3D printing technologies to lithium battery manufacturing. The research team thoroughly examines how the precise control of 3D printing could improve a battery's energy density, safety, and stability. This framework may accelerate the design of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, flexible electronics, and grid-scale energy storage.

 

About the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI)

The WPI program was launched in 2007 by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to foster globally visible research centers boasting the highest standards and outstanding research environments. Numbering more than a dozen and operating at institutions throughout the country, these centers are given a high degree of autonomy, allowing them to engage in innovative modes of management and research. The program is administered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

See the latest research news from the centers at the WPI News Portal: https://www.eurekalert.org/newsportal/WPI
Main WPI program site:  www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-toplevel

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR)
Tohoku University
Establishing a World-Leading Research Center for Materials Science

AIMR aims to contribute to society through its actions as a world-leading research center for materials science and push the boundaries of research frontiers. To this end, the institute gathers excellent researchers in the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, and mathematics and provides a world-class research environment.

AIMR site: https://www.wpi-aimr.tohoku.ac.jp/en/

Schematic overview of the design, technologies, challenges, and industrial pathways of 3D-printed lithium batteries. 

Credit

©Eric Jianfeng Cheng et al.

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DOI

10.1016/j.mser.2026.101211 

Article Title

3D printing in lithium battery manufacturing: Opportunities, challenges, and perspectives