Unreliable advice from Artificial Intelligence

Doctors interviewed by Morgunblaðið agree that it is becoming increasingly common for people to seek health advice from artificial intelligence for both physical and mental ailments.

Patients — especially younger ones — often arrive for appointments and mention that they have already consulted the AI tool ChatGPT about their symptoms, which in turn has offered certain suggestions for diagnosis or treatment.

These AI-generated suggestions are often of varying quality, making it risky to rely on them too heavily. Sources within the healthcare system told Morgunblaðið that there have been cases where patients received poor advice from AI, advice that in some instances even had a negative impact on their treatment.

The technology is here to stay

Gunnar Þór Geirsson, a family doctor and secretary of the Icelandic College of General Practitioners, told Morgunblaðið that the trend toward more people seeking AI advice does not necessarily have to be negative, but that how people use the technology is crucial.

“It’s also a question of how you use it and how you ask. There can be a certain skill to it,” Geirsson said.

He added that this is a technology that is here to stay: “There will certainly be some negative sides to it, but also positive ones. It’s also worth asking whether professionals should try to create some sort of framework for how best to use this technology.”