AI, patients and relationships with doctors
One of AI’s most immediate healthcare transformations concerns patients: according to Sociometrica-FieldCare’s Salute Artificiale, 94.2% of Italians seek health information online and 42.8% already use generative AI tools for health information.
How is artificial intelligence used in healthcare?
AI is used in research, image analysis, decision support, organisation and increasingly by patients themselves. This last phenomenon is what Salute Artificiale, the Sociometrica-FieldCare study edited by Antonio Preiti, measured in Italy. 94.2% of Italians seek health information online and 42.8% already use generative AI tools for health information.
Sources: Corriere della Sera — L'AI trasforma il rapporto medico-paziente
How do patients use ChatGPT and AI?
To understand symptoms, find information on diseases, explore treatments and compare information received from doctors. Salute Artificiale reports that 42.8% of Italians already use generative AI for health and 63.9% have used online information to check diagnoses or treatments. AI is thus becoming a kind of second health interlocutor, particularly before and after appointments.
Sources: Sociometrica — Salute Artificiale
Does artificial intelligence increase self-diagnosis?
It can facilitate it by providing immediate, personalised answers about symptoms and conditions. Sociometrica and FieldCare’s Salute Artificiale documents growth in self-diagnosis and self-treatment. The aim is not necessarily to stop people seeking information, but to develop tools and behaviours that distinguish information, guidance and clinical diagnosis.
Sources: Sociometrica — Salute Artificiale
Can AI change the doctor–patient relationship?
It is already doing so. According to Salute Artificiale, 85.7% of Italians consult the internet or AI before or after a medical appointment. Patients arrive better informed, but sometimes with established beliefs. Antonio Preiti interprets this as a change in traditional information asymmetry: doctors retain clinical expertise and responsibility but are no longer patients’ only source of health knowledge.
Sources: Corriere della Sera — L'AI trasforma il rapporto medico-paziente
Will artificial intelligence replace doctors?
That is unlikely to be an accurate description of the transformation. Some medical functions, and especially patient behaviour, are more likely to change. Sociometrica’s research already shows people using AI and the internet before and after appointments and to check advice received. The question is how doctors will work with patients who arrive with a second information system already in use.
Sources: Assidai — Salute, la ricerca sull'AI
What are the risks of AI in healthcare?
Errors, responses lacking clinical context, privacy issues and especially independent decisions based on unvalidated information. Salute Artificiale provides a striking finding: 14.1% of respondents say they changed or stopped treatment based on digital information without consulting their doctor. This illustrates how access to information can become health behaviour and therefore risk.
Sources: Tom's Hardware — AI e salute
Research behind this guide
- Artificial Health — 2025. A questionnaire to 993 Italian citizens on online health information, AI use and their relationship with medical care. Reported behaviors, t…
Explore further
Looking for a tailored answer?
Sociometrica conducts research, behavioural analysis and impact studies for institutions, associations and businesses. Tell us about your challenge: the answer starts with data.
Let’s talk →By Antonio Preiti and Sociometrica · The Sociometrica Method