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I've been using ChatGPT as a health consultant for all sorts of things. If you've ever experienced health anxiety, you know a huge problem is Googling your symp
by extr 4y ago
I've been using ChatGPT as a health consultant for all sorts of things. If you've ever experienced health anxiety, you know a huge problem is Googling your symptoms and the top links immediately going to diagnoses like lymphoma or HIV. There is no sense of the a priori likelihood of anything. But ChatGPT is pretty measured, and though it includes tons of disclaimers about needing to see a real doctor, it's impossible to definitely say, etc etc, it's much better about returning the REAL most likely reason you have a headache (you're dehydrated) rather than you have brain cancer.
Of course, you could argue this is lulling you in a false sense of security. But the same thing (arguably worse) happens when you go to a real doctor! Half the time they barely look at you and just kind of shrug off concerns/anxiety.
Edit: I got curious and ran an experiment. Typically when you are anxiously googling you are worried about the worst case (even if it's not rational).
Google: "headache brain tumor"
First result, before links even, is a huge out-of-context info box from the Mayo Clinic on brain tumors that highlights the words "Or a brain tumor can cause swelling in the brain that increases pressure in the head and leads to a headache." Jesus Christ!
ChatGPT 3.5: "I have a headache, could it be a brain tumor?"
First two sentences: "A headache can have many different causes, and while a brain tumor is one possible cause, it is not the most common cause. Most headaches are not caused by brain tumors and are usually due to other factors such as tension, sinus issues, or migraine." It then goes on to list tumor-specific headaches symptoms (like changes in vision or hearing) and calls out to see a doctor if you're getting those.
Which do you think is more likely to calm you down? Or is
more legitimately helpful and going to provide good outcomes?
- gadtfly 4y ago> Googling your symptoms, the top links immediately go to diagnoses like lymphoma or HIV. There is no sense of the a priori likelihood of anything. An essay on this topic: "WebMD, And The Tragedy Of Legible Expertise" https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/webmd-and-the-tragedy-of-legible https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/webmd-and-the-tragedy-...
- runsWphotons 4y agoyeah but if you google "differential diagnosis for anaemic dog" this comes right up. the first vet couldve just googled it.
- eCa 4y agoIf I give Google the same prompt you gave ChatGPT: > Here's the reassuring truth: Headache, by itself, is rarely caused by a tumor. According to a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins' Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center, the chance that your headache is a sign of a brain tumor is very remote.
- extr 4y agoIt's interesting, because I considered doing this to make it "fair". But after some reflection I noticed that I almost never type complete sentences into google. Google has kind of trained us to use it a certain way, which can be beneficial (less typing, sometimes more generic/better results), but clearly here, it causes a problem because you don't give it enough context behind why you're asking.
- coderoffortune 4y agoWhy calm down yourself when you feel unwell? Keep on searching for possible headache causes. Three years I go I felt unwell, I went to GP and instead of trying to help me, they have been comforting me saying "all is fine, you are fine, it's just a virus"... Wasted 6 months going to GP trying to explain weird symptoms and finally was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. Went through 2 lines of super toxic treatment and stem cell transplant. Listen to your body, you know better how you feel! Neither GP nor ChatGPT care about you!
- BaseballPhysics 4y ago> Why calm down yourself when you feel unwell? Clearly you've never been debilitated by health anxiety. Every story like this comes with ten more about someone obsessively ruminating about symptoms that turn out to be nothing, not least specifically because of horror stories like yours. There is no one right answer for all situations. But as someone who struggles with health anxiety, it really fucking sucks and yes, there are damn good reasons to seek relief from that sense of constant and unrelenting dread.
- radu_floricica 4y agoFunny thing: the raw GPT4 is incredibly well calibrated. If it gives you an answer with a 40% probability of being correct - it knows that it's 40%. After reinforcement learning on the other hand it copied the human fallacy: it's very sure when it's very sure, but after that it's stuck at "yeah, it could be true".