Frequent AI chatbot users more likely to believe anti-vaccine myths, poll finds

Source: The Guardian

Frequent AI chatbot users more likely to believe anti-vaccine myths, poll finds

Poll finds use of AI tools for health advice is correlated with belief in vaccine falsehoods, such as shots causing autism

Nick Robins-Early
Tue 30 Jun 2026 20.51 BST
First published on Tue 30 Jun 2026 20.25 BST

Adults in the US who frequently seek out health advice from artificial intelligence chatbots are more likely to believe myths about vaccines, according to a poll released on Tuesday by health research firm KFF.

The survey, which was conducted in May and polled a representative sample of 2,480 US adults, found that use of AI tools and chatbots correlated with belief in falsehoods such as vaccines causing autism or that the measles vaccine poses more danger than the corresponding virus. The connection remained while controlling for factors such as age, race, education and political partisanship.

Concern over how AI may spread misinformation and influence public opinion has long been an issue among researchers and health officials. A large percentage of Americans have begun turning to AI chatbots for medical advice, repeated polls show, with another KFF survey from March finding that about a third of US adults seek out health advice from AI.

AI firms have also acknowledged the prevalence of queries about medical matters. “Health is already one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, with hundreds of millions of people asking health and wellness questions each week,” OpenAI said in a January blog post announcing the creation of a specialized ChatGPT Health tool.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/30/ai-chatbot-use-anti-vaccine-myths-poll