General Discussion

Michaeldg
Durham CT ·
April 13
As a primary care physician, I have used AI tools to explore possible causes of difficult to diagnose patient symptoms. While helpful in bringing forth diagnosis that might have been missed, as one drills down on how to manage a particular disease I have seen it confidently assert erroneous conclusions. When I point out the scientific inconsistencies of what it has asserted it reverts to sycophantic praise for my intelligence and abruptly changes its recommendations. What worries me is that I was only able to spot it's inaccuracies because of my depth of knowledge and experience in the subject, something that the average user does not have. I view AI as being like a precocious teenager, but do not trust it with important decisions. It can provide difficult to find information but often comes to incorrect conclusions. While it can be useful to familiarize a patient with a certain condition, I see considerable danger in lay people believing the AI chat over the advise of an experienced clinician as this story so amply demonstrates.