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Chatbots Make Terrible Doctors, New Study Finds (www.404media.co)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by XLE@piefed.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Chatbots provided incorrect, conflicting medical advice, researchers found: “Despite all the hype, AI just isn't ready to take on the role of the physician.”

“In an extreme case, two users sent very similar messages describing symptoms of a subarachnoid hemorrhage but were given opposite advice,” the study’s authors wrote. “One user was told to lie down in a dark room, and the other user was given the correct recommendation to seek emergency care.”

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[-] Hacksaw@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 months ago

LLM gives correct answer when doctor writes it down first.... Wowoweewow very nice!

[-] tyler@programming.dev 4 points 3 months ago

You have misunderstood what they said.

[-] Hacksaw@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago

If you seriously think the doctor's notes about the patient's symptoms don't include the doctor's diagnostic instincts then I can't help you.

The symptom questions ARE the diagnostic work. Your doctor doesn't ask you every possible question. You show up and you say "my stomach hurts". The Doctor asks questions to rule things out until there is only one likely diagnosis then they stop and prescribe you a solution if available. They don't just ask a random set of questions. If you give the AI the notes JUST BEFORE the diagnosis and treatment it's completely trivial to diagnose because the diagnostic work is already complete.

God you AI people literally don't even understand what skill, craft, trade, and art are and you think you can emulate them with a text predictor.

[-] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago

Dude, I hate AI. I’m not an AI person. Don’t fucking classify me as that. You’re the one not reading the article and subsequently the study. It didn’t say it included the doctor’s diagnostic work. The study wasn’t about whether LLMs are accurate for doctors, that’s already been studied. The study this article talks about literally says that. Apparently LLMs are passing medical licensing exams almost 100% of the time, so it definitely has nothing to do with diagnostic notes. This study was about using LLMs to diagnose yourself. That’s it. That’s the study. Don’t spread bullshit. It’s tiring debunking stuff that is literally two sentences in.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04074-y

[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

If you think there’s no work between symptoms and diagnosis, you’re dumber than you think LLMs are.

this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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