Every fall, cancer starts sounding louder in the national conversation. The months between summer and winter bring multiple awareness campaigns, survivor stories, and reminders to get checked. That attention really matters. This year, however, that conversation is happening alongside another major shift: More Americans are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for answers about their health.
A recent study found that 76% of Gen Z adults and 63% of millennials now turn to AI as their first line of primary healthcare — before ever seeing a doctor.
In seconds, we can search for symptoms, understand medical terminology and learn more about potential risks. Used responsibly, AI can be an extraordinarily useful tool, but knowing more is not the same as knowing what to do next. This is especially true when it comes to cancer. Consistent physician care can more accurately identify signs of more serious conditions associated with symptoms that might not always seem relevant. That is why AI should copilot but not drive our healthcare.
Being president of a Fortune 500 company means turning concepts into decisions, and decisions into action. After more than two decades in leadership roles at Aflac, I have learned that action without guidance can quickly turn into inaction. The best cure for that is a solid strategy that results in a viable care plan.
And this is where, when it comes to our own healthcare, we continue to fall short.
Despite decades of awareness campaigns, nearly two-thirds of Americans still delay recommended health screenings. It is not because people don’t understand that screenings matter; rather, life just gets busy. We also know that people worry about what they might learn, or convince themselves that because they feel fine, there is no reason to get checked.
Technology can help address some of those barriers. AI can be a component of the plan. It can help someone understand the difference between screening options or help prepare questions before a doctor’s appointment. But there is a limit to what AI technology can do.
AI cannot take you to an appointment when you are hemming and hawing about going. It cannot perform a mammogram or a colonoscopy. And it cannot personally view your health history and connect the dots on a possible condition that didn’t exist before, and certainly cannot replace the voice of someone you trust asking, “Did you get that checked?”
Separate research on cancer-screening behavior backs this up: most Americans describe encouraging a loved one to get screened as an act of love, and say that encouragement changes their own behavior. It’s a reminder that the most powerful health intervention tool is not information coming out of a screen. It often can be someone who knows and cares about you.
Like so many families, mine has been touched by cancer, and I have watched loved ones and friends navigate diagnoses, treatment and the uncertainty that comes with both. Those experiences are why I will continue to raise my voice to help move people from uncertainty to action.
That’s also, frankly, Aflac’s business model: we exist because a screening gets missed, a diagnosis comes late, and a family needs help covering what health insurance alone doesn’t. The AI conversation isn’t abstract for us — it shows up in our claims data.
You can apply this principle by being the leader of your health. That is why AI should be the copilot but not the driver of our healthcare.
Virgil Miller is president of Aflac Incorporated and Aflac U.S., a leading provider of cancer insurance in the United States and Japan.
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