ChatGPT replacing doctors

Modern medicine and Al misdiagnosing diseases

- DAWN LESTER DAVID PARKER

WHEN we have concerns about our health, AI should be the last place that we turn for advice, yet it seems that people are using ChatGPT to help them self-diagnose and, even more surprisingly, some doctors are not totally against the idea.

An article posted on January 1 on the CNET website is entitled The AI Doctor Is In. Here's How ChatGPT May Pave a New Era of Self-Diagnosis. The subtitle claims: 'The chatbot is more than fun to use: It may be the new health assistant for those who need it most in 2024 and beyond.'

Later in the article, it is acknowledged that chatbots should not be used as a total replacement for doctors.

But the headline, subtitle, and the beginning of the article probably all that most people will read suggest that using AI to 'self-diagnose' is useful for people to be able to know what is wrong with them.

Referring to comments by Sheila Wall, who is cited as the admin for an online group called 'Years of Misdiagnosed or Undiagnosed Medical Conditions', the article states: 'Being undiagnosed is a miserable situation, and people need somewhere to talk about it and get information. Living with a health condition that hasn't been properly treated or diagnosed forces people to be more medically savvy.'

The article adds: 'According to one estimate, 30 million people in the U.S. are living with an undiagnosed disease. People who've lived for years with a health problem and no real answers may benefit most from new tools that allow doctors more access to information on complicated patient cases."

We are certainly not denying that not knowing what is wrong with you when you experience a variety of symptoms is a miserable situation to be in.

Nevertheless, it is grossly misleading to accept the notion that having symptoms, no matter how severe, means that there is something wrong with you and that you have a 'disease'.