Tennesseans Gave Vanderbilt a Blunt Answer About AI Taking Over Their Doctor Visits

Would a faster doctor visit still appeal to you if it meant less time with the doctor?

Vanderbilt University’s spring 2026 poll put that trade-off to Tennessee registered voters as part of its questions about AI in health care.

The responses offer a revealing look at what people want from an appointment.

Here’s what Tennesseans told Vanderbilt about AI taking over their doctor visits.

Note: This is general information about a poll, not medical advice. Opinions are subject to change. Consult with your doctor about your personal situation.

Who Ran the Poll and How

Vanderbilt University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions ran the poll, which surveyed 1,203 registered voters across Tennessee from April 13 to April 29, 2026.

Two Vanderbilt political science professors, Josh Clinton and John Geer, direct the poll.

Geer is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science, and Clinton, the other co-director, is also a professor of political science.

Vanderbilt published the findings in a news release dated May 20, 2026.

You can read the full findings in that news release.

The poll covered the economy, elected officials and international versus domestic concerns, and this article sticks to the questions about artificial intelligence (AI) in health care.

No poll asks everyone, so the overall margin of error of 3.2 percentage points applies to the full 1,203-voter sample, and smaller groups of voters have wider margins.

If you’re registered to vote in Tennessee, you fit the group Vanderbilt surveyed.

The results describe registered voters, not everyone who lives in the state.

Keep that in mind.

These are the poll’s findings on AI in health care, starting with what voters said about choosing their doctor.

Doctors Over Efficiency

Vanderbilt’s poll asked Tennessee voters whether they agreed that they’d rather deal directly with their doctor than use AI to make care more efficient.

Forty-nine percent strongly agreed.

Strongly agree and somewhat agree are different strengths of feeling, and the poll reports them separately.

Another 22 percent somewhat agreed, which puts roughly seven in ten voters on the doctor’s side.

Vanderbilt’s release frames the result as patients preferring to interact with human physicians over AI-driven speed and efficiency.

Think about the last time you wanted a straight answer from your doctor.

Picture a waiting room with 10 of these voters in it: Roughly seven would pick their doctor.

Treatment Plans Without Doctors

Sixty-nine percent of voters told Vanderbilt they’re uncomfortable with AI evaluating symptoms and developing treatment plans independently of doctors.

Evaluating symptoms and developing treatment plans is a big part of a doctor’s job, which is why that wording matters.

The very uncomfortable group, at 45 percent, was almost twice the size of the somewhat uncomfortable group, at 24 percent.

Details matter.

Roughly two in three of the uncomfortable voters felt strongly about it.

Look at the wording, though: The question covered AI working independently of doctors, not a doctor using AI as a tool.

If your doctor ever brings AI into your visit, that’s a different question from the one these voters answered.

Medical Record Privacy

So what happens to your chart if AI helps with a visit?

Those records can include your diagnoses, your medications and your test results, so voters have a clear reason to ask who would see them.

Vanderbilt reports that 68 percent of voters are concerned about medical record privacy related to the use of AI.

That’s roughly two in three.

Pew asked a related question about record security, and that comes up below.

The split leaned strong, with 44 percent strongly concerned and 24 percent somewhat concerned.

That puts concern about records within a point of the 69 percent discomfort with AI treatment plans, well inside the poll’s margin of error.

AI as a Substitute for Visits

Vanderbilt also asked about AI as a substitute for in-person doctor appointments.

That’s the title question.

Half of voters said using AI that way isn’t at all important.

In plain terms, half of voters place no importance on AI standing in for an in-person appointment like the one on your calendar.

Vanderbilt’s release sums up the poll’s finding with the phrase “Human healthcare is worth the time it takes, Tennesseans say.”

Pew's 2022 National Survey

Pew Research Center surveyed U.S. adults in December 2022 and published the results in February 2023.

The wording, the year and the group surveyed all differ from Vanderbilt's, so the numbers aren't a clean match.

Different poll, different year.

You can use it as a national backdrop, not a direct match.

Its survey of 11,004 U.S. adults, fielded December 12 to 18, 2022, drawn from Pew's American Trends Panel, included people whether or not they vote.

Sixty percent said they'd feel uncomfortable if their health care provider relied on AI for diagnosis and treatment, while 39 percent said they'd feel comfortable.

That question, about a provider relying on AI to diagnose disease and recommend treatments, overlaps with the treatment-plan question Vanderbilt asked.

On patient outcomes, 38 percent said AI would lead to better results for patients generally, and 33 percent said worse.

On record security, 37 percent said AI would make patients' records less secure, and 22 percent said more secure.

Fifty-seven percent said AI would make the patient-provider relationship worse, while 13 percent said better.