Alexandra Sifferlin

Often I would be met with like kind of a huge eye roll and, you know, this thing it's often so overhyped.

It never really works.

And then you have this current iteration of large language models.

So, you know, for individual people, you know, the technology of the chatbot of your choice.

And it has been fascinating to go back to the same clinicians and hear what they think.

And I think it's honestly far more positive than I maybe even expected.

And there's a few reasons for that.

You mentioned the risks, which I do think are really important.

People do need to realize that when you're using one of these tools, it shouldn't replace

going to see your physician because there's a lot that can be missed, even if you're putting in a lot of your own medical data in there.

Often these tools sort of tell you what they think you want to hear.

You know, it doesn't replace clinical judgment.

However,

I do think it can be very helpful.

And many of the physicians that I interviewed for this book seem to agree.

For instance, a lot of physicians talk about how there are ways to use these chatbots that could improve your physician appointment.

in ways that could actually help your diagnosis.

So for instance, let's say you know that you're going to the physician to talk about a cough, a persistent cough that you've had.

If you tell the chatbot a bit about yourself, and then you ask it instead of just, what's wrong with me?

You could ask it, interview me as you would a physician, and help me identify what are the most important things