Survey: Over half of people now fact-check professionals using AI chatbots
A new Use.AI survey of over 15,000 respondents found that 53% now verify explanations from doctors, teachers, and other professionals using AI before accepting them, while 46% say professional credentials carry less weight than before. Use.AI calls this shift an 'expertise recession,' describing a decline in automatic trust toward trained professionals as AI tools let people independently investigate claims.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
This trend reflects a broader erosion of trust in institutions, fueled by easy access to AI tools that can seem authoritative even when wrong. The risk is particularly acute in medicine, where chatbots lack access to a patient's full history and have already been linked to harmful advice, including a case of bromism and a lawsuit over a fatal drug interaction recommendation.
- 53% of surveyed people now double-check professional advice using AI chatbots
- 46% say professional credentials matter less now that AI enables independent fact-checking
- AI health advice has already been linked to serious harms, including a bromism case and a fatal overdose lawsuit
Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick — If you're curious about how chatbots are reshaping trust in doctors, teachers, and managers, Ethan Mollick's Co-Intelligence is the go-to guide for using AI as a thinking partner rather than an oracle. It's a practical, readable look at where these tools genuinely help and where blindly trusting them goes wrong "exactly the tension this "expertise recession" survey highlights.
See Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: techspot.com — Rob Thubron, 2026-08-28
Published there as: “AI is driving an "expertise recession" as people increasingly question professional credentials and expert advice”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.