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Man getting frustrated looking his medical symptoms up online
Googling Symptoms

How many times have you Googled your symptoms and been provided with frightening information about potential health ailments? The internet is a powerful tool that has made our lives easier in a lot of ways. However, it can easily complicate matters by providing broad information that doesn’t pertain to each individual. 

For the sake of this article, I asked Google ‘Why do I have a headache?”. I was provided with multiple answers, including dehydration, allergies, hormone imbalances, and underlying medical conditions like a stroke or meningitis. 

 

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket 

The internet can be a helpful tool in assisting you in learning more about different health conditions. But it should only be considered one of the tools you rely on, not the only one you rely on. Solely relying on information from one article or from ChatGPT (or any other AI software) can be dangerous, as there is a significant amount of misinformation floating around online. The rise in artificial intelligence is making it much more difficult to differentiate good information from bad information. 

If you find information online that you are interested in incorporating into your daily life to support your overall health, consider having a conversation with your healthcare provider (or naturopathic doctor) to learn more about the information that you found, and to see if the recommendations from Google or ChatGPT truly are good ideas for you to incorporate. It is important to remember that these artificial interfaces do not have all the answers and can make errors, just like humans. Although these artificial interfaces may be intelligent, they did not spend years in school studying the human body, and they lack the ability to make personal recommendations based on your individual being. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by blindly trusting the internet. Seek additional guidance for well-rounded support. 

 

Naturopathic Medicine and Artificial Intelligence 

As a naturopathic doctor, it is my job to take all of the information available (labs, medical history, personal preferences, individual symptoms, etc) into consideration when providing support to each individual. A computer-generated model cannot make these same individualized recommendations, because it does not know you as an individual- it only knows you by the data input into its system. ChatGPT cannot pick up on your emotions, and it cannot gauge appropriately how much stress you are under or how sleep-deprived you are.

Important Considerations

Google cannot replace a medical education or a degree in any healthcare field. ChatGPT cannot replace years of hands-on training, clinical experience, and anecdotal evidence that is seen on a daily basis. While there is no doubt that AI will infiltrate the healthcare community and there will inevitably be ways that artificial intelligence improves the medical community, we must use caution with our health and wellness when it comes to artificial intelligence. 

 

Getting overwhelmed by all of the “medical advice” swirling around social media? You’re not alone. Read more here!

References:
  1. Tan S, Xin X, Wu D. ChatGPT in medicine: prospects and challenges: a review article. Int J Surg. 2024;110(6):3701-3706. Published 2024 Jun 1. doi:10.1097/JS9.0000000000001312
  2. Homolak J. Opportunities and risks of ChatGPT in medicine, science, and academic publishing: a modern Promethean dilemma. Croat Med J. 2023;64(1):1-3. doi:10.3325/cmj.2023.64.1

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