The data: Consumers preferred personalized portal messages from physicians written by AI—until they found out they were written by AI, according to a JAMA Network Open study of more than 1,400 respondents.

• AI-generated messages were longer, more detailed, and more empathetic than the notes written by physicians.
• However, patients were more satisfied when they were told a physician wrote the responses, even if the physician didn’t actually write them.
• Researchers surmised the findings may indicate a healthcare reverse “automation bias,” or the human tendency to favor automated answers.