AI Medical Advice - Both Sides
Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:
Amazon Expands Health AI Access For Virtual Health Care
Health AI will be available to more US Amazon users this year.
Other functions Health AI can help out with include filling prescription refills through Amazon Pharmacy and connecting you with One Medical doctors via video, in-person appointments or messages.
Health AI isn't the first chatbot to offer health guidance. In January, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, which similarly answers health questions, deciphers lab results and connects to your Apple Health app and medical records with your permission. Anthropic likewise introduced Claude for Healthcare, which connects to Apple Health and can help you understand and sort through health care tasks such as medical bills. Apple is also rumored to be working on its own AI health coach or assistant.
There have been concerns about chatbots and their use for sensitive topics such as health advice, because misguidance can cause harm. We would always caution against inputting private, sensitive information into AI bots and to take their advice with a grain of salt, since AI is known to hallucinate. Double-check with your provider about any health care advice an AI chatbot gives you.
Amazon's virtual assistant is said to be HIPAA-compliant and intended only for medical support, not to replace a health care provider. Health AI will be able to answer questions such as: "Can you explain my recent cholesterol results and what they mean for me?" or "What allergy medications are safe with my current prescriptions?"
An Amazon representative didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment.
AI Chatbots Miss More Than Half Of Medical Diagnoses, Study Finds
https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/chatbots-miss-medical-diagnoses/
ChatGPT was one of the chatbots used in Nature Medicine's study.
The study acknowledged that LLMs now achieve scores on medical knowledge benchmarks comparable to passing the US Medical Licensing Exam, and that clinical documents from LLMs "are rated as equivalent to or better than those written by doctors."
However, a problem was revealed when the study's participants tried to get the same results by asking the LLM questions but were not successful. This is because users often didn't provide enough information, the study found. It reports that in 16 of 30 sampled interactions, initial messages contained only partial information.
"In two cases, LLMs provided initially correct responses but added new and incorrect responses after the users added additional details," the study said, suggesting that conversing more with the chatbots did not improve the probability of receiving a correct medical diagnosis.
After the initial diagnosis, the LLMs provided the correct follow-up steps to the person just 44.2% of the time.
Meta's Llama 3 was one of the large language models used in the study.
According to a survey by OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, 3 in 5 US adults report using AI for health. "They are using AI to get information when they first feel unwell, consulting it to prepare for their visits with their clinicians, and using it to better comprehend patient instructions and recommendations," OpenAI stated.
And although there's a small disclaimer on ChatGPT's website that reads, "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info," many people do take the chatbot's word for fact.
The study serves as a reminder that ChatGPT and similar chatbots should not be relied upon for medical guidance, particularly in serious situations.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.