A new poll in the US showed on Wednesday that 74 per cent of people above age 50 would have very little or no trust in health information if it were generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Meanwhile, 20 per cent of older adults have little or no confidence that they could spot misinformation about a health topic if they came across it, according to data from the University of Michigan (U-M) and AARP’s ‘National Poll on Healthy Aging’.

Advertisement

That percentage was even higher among older adults who say their mental health, physical health or memory is fair or poor, and among those who report having a disability that limits their activities.

According to the poll, those who might need trustworthy health information, the most were more likely to say they had little or no confidence they could spot false information.

Among all older adults who have searched for health information online recently, only 32 per cent said it’s very easy to find something accurate.

“The findings also highlight the key role that health care providers and pharmacists play as trusted health messengers in older adults’ lives, and even the role that friends or family with medical backgrounds can play,” said poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, a primary care physician at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and associate professor of internal medicine at U-M.

“We also find that websites run by health organisations are seen by most who use them as very trustworthy, which suggests a need to encourage more people to use them,” he added.

In all, 84 per cent of older adults said they had gotten health information directly from a health care provider, pharmacist or friend or family member in the past year.

More than 70 per cent of them rated the health professionals as very trustworthy, but 62 per cent said the same about friends and family with medical backgrounds.

“Older adults are increasingly turning to the internet for health information, yet there is a significant trust gap, particularly with AI-generated content,” said Indira Venkat, AARP Senior Vice President of Research.