KFF Survey: Active AI Chatbot Users More Likely to Believe Vaccine Myths

A survey by KFF, an American nonprofit organization specializing in healthcare research, released on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, showed that adult residents of the United States who frequently consult AI chatbots for health advice are more likely to believe vaccine myths—for example, that vaccines cause autism.

What the Survey Showed

The survey was conducted in May 2026 and covered a representative sample of 2,480 American adults. Researchers compared the frequency of turning to AI chatbots for medical advice with respondents' willingness to believe anti-vaccination claims—and found a consistent link.

• KFF survey published June 30, 2026 (Tuesday)
• Sample—2,480 adult residents of the United States
• Field stage of the study conducted in May 2026
• Among the recorded myths—"vaccines cause autism" and "measles vaccine is more dangerous than the disease itself"
• The link persisted after controlling for age, race, education, and political views of respondents

Why the Link Cannot Be Explained by Other Factors

The key point of KFF's research is that the correlation between using AI chatbots for medical advice and belief in vaccine myths persisted even with statistical control for age, race, education level, and political affiliation of participants. That is, conventional explanations—for example, that skepticism toward vaccines is more strongly expressed among certain political groups—do not fully explain the result: the very habit of asking AI for advice turned out to be an independent factor.

How AI Is Used for Health Questions

Increasing numbers of Americans turn to AI chatbots to get an initial consultation on symptoms, medications, or the need for vaccinations—instead of visiting a doctor or checking trusted medical resources. The KFF survey does not specify which chatbots the respondents used, but it records a clear pattern: the more often a person turns to AI for medical advice, the higher the probability that he will believe unverified claims about vaccines.

Risks to Public Health

Public health specialists have long warned that the spread of vaccine myths directly reduces vaccination coverage and increases the risk of outbreaks of manageable infections like measles. The results of the KFF survey add a new channel to this picture for the spread of misinformation: if previously the focus was mainly on social media and forums, now AI chatbots are also on the list of sources to which people turn directly for personal advice.

The peculiarity of such a channel is that a chatbot's response is perceived as a personal, personally addressed consultation rather than a post in a feed that can be questioned or compared with other opinions. This can make misinformation absorbed through dialogue with AI more persistent than misinformation that a person encounters when casually scrolling social media.

What This Means

The results reinforce concerns that people are increasingly replacing doctor consultations with dialogue with AI, and generative models are capable of unintentionally reinforcing medical misinformation precisely among those users who are most vulnerable to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who

Conducted the Survey on the Link Between AI Chatbots and Belief in Vaccine Myths?

The survey was conducted by KFF, an American research center in the field of healthcare; the results were released on June 30, 2026.

How Many People Participated in the Survey?

The survey included 2,480 adult residents of the United States—a representative sample, the field stage was conducted in May 2026.

What

Specific Vaccine Myths Do Active AI Chatbot Users More Often Believe In?

Among the myths recorded in the survey are the belief that vaccines cause autism, and that the measles vaccine is more dangerous than the virus itself.