Destructive peddlers of health misinformation: AI chatbots

A study published in the journal Urology examined the accuracy of ChatGPT in responding to questions about urology topics.

They asked 13 guideline-based questions and assessed ChatGPT’s accuracy. They found that 60% of responses were correct, which means that almost half were not.

The authors also explain how ChatGPT “misinterprets clinical care guidelines, dismisses important contextual information, conceals its sources, and provides inappropriate references.”

One study assessed AI’s ability to cite references to back up its medical advice. 

The scientists found that 50–90% of its responses were “not fully supported, and sometimes contradicted, by the sources they cite.”

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As Alex Ruani, a health misinformation researcher, writes:

“Chatbots give the answers we seek but not always the ones we need.” 

One of the main problems with ChatGPT is that it gets a lot right, which lulls you into a false sense of security. As your trust builds, it’s easy to put more and more faith in the chatbot. 

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here