One in five Swedes would let AI make diagnoses without human involvement

A new YouGov survey commissioned by Tieto finds that Swedes are split on how far AI should go in healthcare. The headline figure is that 19 percent of Swedes could imagine letting AI make a diagnosis with no human involvement.

Acceptance is higher for narrower tasks. 38 percent would accept AI analysing X-ray images and test results on its own, while 26 percent are fine with AI answering a patient's questions without a human involved.

Trust in how AI is used in Swedish healthcare is divided. 33 percent say they feel uneasy about whether AI is being used responsibly, and 31 percent say they feel secure about it, so the two groups are almost the same size.

Per Mattsson, Head of AI and Clinical Innovation at Tieto Caretech, said in a press release that the survey shows there is acceptance for AI solutions in healthcare. He said Tieto sees AI as a way to ease and strengthen medical assessment and to give healthcare staff better decision support, not as a replacement for the human encounter between patient and caregiver.

The results matter because they give a measure of public attitudes as AI moves into Swedish healthcare. Most people are not ready to hand diagnosis to a machine alone, but a sizeable minority is, and willingness is greater for tasks like image and test analysis than for direct patient communication. The survey was commissioned by Tieto, which sells healthcare technology.