Asking AI for Medical Treatment? Study Reveals, Incorrect Advice Given in 50% of Cases..

AI has become an integral part of all our lives; indeed, the situation has reached a point where people are now seeking advice from Artificial Intelligence on issues ranging from the trivial to the profound. According to a new study, AI-powered chatbots are providing users with incorrect medical advice approximately half the time. This highlights the health risks associated with a technology that is rapidly becoming a crucial component of our daily existence.

Researchers from the US, Canada, and the UK evaluated five popular platforms: Gemini, ChatGPT, Meta AI, DeepSeek, and Grok. They posed 10 health-related questions across five distinct categories to each platform. According to results published this week in the medical journal *BMJ Open*, approximately 50 percent of the total responses were deemed incorrect, with about 20 percent of those responses being significantly erroneous.

**Key Findings from the Study**

According to the study, the chatbots performed better on closed-ended prompts and questions related to vaccines and cancer, whereas they performed poorly on open-ended prompts and in fields such as stem cells and nutrition. The researchers noted that responses were often delivered with absolute confidence and certainty. However, none of the chatbots provided a completely comprehensive and accurate list of references in response to any of the prompts. The chatbots declined to answer questions on only two occasions, both of which involved Meta AI.

These findings underscore the growing concern regarding how people are utilizing generative AI platforms—platforms that are neither licensed to provide medical advice nor possess the necessary clinical acumen required to diagnose illnesses. The meteoric rise of AI chatbots has established them as a popular resource for individuals seeking advice regarding their health conditions. OpenAI has reported that more than 200 million people ask ChatGPT questions related to health and wellness every week. In January, the platform announced the launch of health-related tools designed for both general users and medical professionals; that same month, Anthropic also revealed that its "Claude" product was introducing a new service within the healthcare sector.

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