The American Medical Association has published its 2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence, drawing on responses from 1,692 physicians across specialties, practice settings, and career stages between January and February 2026. Eighty-one per cent now report using AI in their practice, more than double the 38% recorded in the equivalent 2023 survey, and the average number of distinct AI use cases per physician has risen from 1.1 to 2.3 over the same window.

Documentation and clinical-research summarisation lead the use-case mix; these are the two areas where ambient-scribe and LLM-summarisation products have matured fastest commercially. More than three-quarters of physicians say AI improves their ability to care for patients (65% in 2023). At the same time, around 40% describe themselves as equally excited and concerned, with patient privacy and the integrity of the patient-physician relationship the most-cited worries.

The headline number papers over a more uneven picture. Use is concentrated where institutional access exists and where formal training has been provided; both are unevenly distributed across employer types and specialties. The AMA itself frames the trajectory as one of consolidation rather than novelty: AI has become routine infrastructure in the typical clinic, and the next decision points are about workflow integration, liability, and the regulatory regime that governs deployed tools post-marketing.