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A report on research into older adults’ use of AI says chatbots can make health information easier to access and understand, but their answers may be wrong or overly agreeable. The researcher recommends “informed skepticism”: use source-checking tools, verify important information and avoid sharing identifying details.
Older adults can use AI chatbots to get quick explanations of health information, but a researcher writing in Medical Xpress says they should assess responses rather than accept them at face value. The report describes the approach as “informed skepticism” and points to risks including inaccurate advice, weak verification habits and privacy concerns.
The researcher, who studies how people interact with technology, says chatbots can summarize complicated material, explain topics in different ways and answer questions quickly. People may also find it easier to raise sensitive questions with a chatbot than to discuss them in person. These features can make AI useful as a source of information, but do not establish that its answers are medically reliable.
In a 2025 survey of 300 adults cited in the report, about one in five respondents said they used AI chatbots to ask health questions. A separate poll the researcher conducted with colleagues found that half of older adults surveyed used AI chatbots or voice assistants, and about 14% of that group accessed health information through them. The report does not give further details about the samples or methods in the source material provided.
The risks include chatbots giving incorrect advice during a medical emergency, misclassifying health conditions or agreeing with a user in ways that produce inaccurate answers. The report says that in the 2025 survey, four in five health-chatbot users said they never checked the output. That figure describes respondents in that survey, not all chatbot users.
How Chatbots Can Affect Health Decisions
Fast, plain-language answers may help older adults make sense of health topics, particularly when they have questions between appointments. The report also notes that using a device at home can give people a greater sense of control over health information, compared with clinical settings where older patients may feel left out of conversations.
But a fluent answer can sound trustworthy even when it is wrong. If someone relies on a chatbot instead of seeking professional care, an error could affect a health decision. The researcher’s recommendation is not to avoid AI altogether, but to treat its output as information that needs checking—especially for consequential or urgent questions.
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Older Adults’ Use of AI Tools
The report challenges the assumption that older adults are uniformly unfamiliar with technology. It says the researcher’s work has found older people using voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa to ask health questions, while a 2025 poll found use of AI chatbots or voice assistants among half of the older adults surveyed.
AI can appear in standalone services such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, in health-provider systems, and inside search engines. The report says that some search features require users to opt in, while others may present AI-generated summaries by default. It also references the Aging with AI Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2026 that the researcher says highlights the need for more research into benefits and risks.
““informed skepticism””
— The researcher quoted in the Medical Xpress report
Limits of the Available Evidence
The report cites surveys but the supplied material does not provide details such as sampling methods, respondent demographics beyond age categories, or margins of error. The findings therefore should not be treated as precise estimates of how all older adults use AI or verify its answers.
It is also unclear how often chatbot errors lead to harmful health decisions, which tools or prompts are most reliable, and whether the suggested checking strategies change user behavior. The report does not establish that chatbots are a substitute for clinicians or that they improve health outcomes.
Practical Steps for Safer Searches
The researcher recommends learning how to turn off AI features when desired, using chatbot tools that show or link to sources, and checking important answers against reliable published information. The report says users should avoid entering personally identifying details into public chatbots because companies may retain prompts for training future models.
For search engines that display AI summaries, the researcher says users should learn the available opt-out settings. The report gives adding “-ai” to a Google search query as one way to remove AI content from results. Whether such controls work can depend on the service and how its features change. The report’s broader advice is to verify health information and consult a qualified health professional for medical decisions rather than relying on a chatbot alone.
Key Questions
What does “informed skepticism” mean when using a health chatbot?
It means considering a chatbot’s response without assuming it is correct. Users can check whether the tool provides sources, compare important claims with reliable published information and seek professional guidance for medical decisions.
How many older adults in the cited poll used AI?
The researcher’s 2025 poll found that one in two older adults surveyed used AI chatbots or voice assistants. About 14% of that group accessed health information with them; the report does not provide enough survey-method details to generalize these figures to all older adults.
What are the main risks of using chatbots for health questions?
The report identifies inaccurate advice, incorrect classification of health conditions, overly agreeable responses and privacy risks. It also notes that chatbot answers can sound convincing even when they contain errors.
Should a chatbot replace a doctor?
The report does not present chatbots as a replacement for clinicians. It recommends checking AI-generated information and consulting a qualified health professional for medical decisions.
Source: rss
