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‘Bleeding after self-diagnosis’: AIIMS doctor flags risks of using ChatGPT for health
OpenAI recently said that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.
Highlighting the risks of self-diagnosis and false medication using AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, a top doctor at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said medicines are advised after investigation.
Dr Uma Kumar, head of the AIIMS's Rheumatology department, warned about the risks and said that a patient suffered bleeding after he self-diagnosed his backpain using ChatGPT and took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. “All ailments are diagnosed by exclusion, and we advise medicines according to the investigation. Do not use AI for self-diagnosis or self-treatment,” Dr Kumar said.
More than 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week, OpenAI was quoted as saying by Reuters.
AI chatbots such as ChatGPT have drawn flak from researchers and health experts as people often turn to these for easy advise on health which often has dangerous outcomes. Experts have described ChatGPT's advice to people dealing with mental health crises as “dangerous” and “unhelpful”, according to The Guardian.
Debate around ChatGPT health
Concerns have also been raised as OpenAI last week launched a ChatGPT Health tab that answers health-related questions and lets users upload medical records and connect wellness apps such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal.
ChatGPT Health can be used for tasks such as understanding recent test results, preparing for doctor appointments, getting advice on diet and workout routines, or evaluating tradeoffs between different insurance options based on individual healthcare patterns.
However, experts have raised concerns saying ChatGPT Health is not regulated. “So there are no mandatory safety controls, no risk reporting, no post-market surveillance, and no requirement to publish testing data,” Alex Ruani, a doctoral researcher in health misinformation with the University College in London, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
