India leads other countries, as 85 percent of patients turn to AI before doctors

India leads global adoption of AI in healthcare, with 85 per cent of consumers consulting AI tools before doctors, according to a BCG study. The trend is driven by youth, though most users still prefer a hybrid doctor–AI model.

Hyderabad: While the whole world is still debating the future of Artificial Intelligence, patients in India appears to have made up their minds. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Indian patients are number one, when compared to other countries, to consult an AI platform before getting a traditional consultation from the doctor.

The BCG report ‘Consumers Are Ready for AI-Enabled Health Care. Health Systems Need to Be, Too’ said Indian consumers have outpaced their counterparts in the US and Japan.

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The survey, which analyzed over 13,000 consumers across 15 countries, reveals a gap in how different cultures trust digital health tools. The global average for AI health usage sits at 60 percent, while in India, the adoption is 85 percent, in the US, it is 50 percent, UK 43 percent and 34 percent in Japan.

Apparently, the preference of AI driven platforms for healthcare searches is being spearheaded by India’s youth. Approximately 78 percent of Gen Z and 71 percent of Millennials are now bypassing traditional initial consultations in favor of conversational AI tools.

Locally, this shift is visible in how individuals of almost all the age groups use apps to check symptoms, and explore various treatment modalities before stepping into a clinic.

The rise of dependency on AI is because such platforms are cheap, provide immediate, low-cost access to health information that might otherwise take days to get from a specialist.

The BCG survey said that most people currently use simple chatbots (33 percent ) or wearables (19 percent ). There is a high demand for AI that can actually book appointments with doctors and flag drug interactions autonomously.

Most Indian respondents in the survey stated they don’t want AI to replace doctors and prefer a hybrid model where AI helps doctors interpret test results and manage chronic conditions more efficiently.