A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) suggests summaries of radiology reports created using AI could increase patients’ understanding and reduce their worries. The 21st Century Cures Act, enacted in 2016, requires that patients have timely access to their health information, including radiology reports, which can create challenges when patients encounter concerning findings. “The risk is that patients won’t understand what is normal and what is abnormal,” said Juan Serna, MD, the study’s lead author. To test whether AI could reduce confusion, researchers used three deidentified reports from lung cancer CT screenings and employed a secure version of ChatGPT to create simplified versions. A radiologist reviewed the AI versions for accuracy. The researchers tested the reports with participants recruited from Prolific, and for each of the three findings, participants read the original report, then the AI version. The surveys were conducted over five days in July 2025. The researchers compared the answers of 1,815 respondents and found that the AI-generated summaries improved particip