Dr. Google Meets Its Match: Dr. ChatGPT

Published

2 years ago

September 14, 2023

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As a fourth-year ophthalmology resident at Emory University School of Medicine, Riley Lyons biggest responsibilities include triage: When a patient comes in with an eye-related complaint, Lyons must make an immediate assessment of its urgency. Use Our Content

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He often finds patients have already turned to Dr. Google. Online, Lyons said, they are likely to find that any number of terrible things could be going on based on the symptoms that they’re experiencing.

So, when two of Lyons fellow ophthalmologists at Emory came to him and suggested evaluating the accuracy of the AI chatbot ChatGPT in diagnosing eye-related complaints, he jumped at the chance.

In June, Lyons and his colleagues reported in medRxiv, an online publisher of health science preprints, that ChatGPT compared quite well to human doctors who reviewed the same symptoms and performed vastly better than the symptom checker on the popular health website WebMD. And despite the much-publicized hallucination problem known to afflict ChatGPT its habit of occasionally making outright false statements the Emory study reported that the most recent version of ChatGPT made zero grossly inaccurate statements when presented with a standard set of eye complaints.

The relative proficiency of ChatGPT, which debuted in November 2022, was a surprise to Lyons and his co-authors. The artificial intelligence engine is definitely an improvement over just putting something into a Google search bar and seeing what you find, said co-author Nieraj Jain, an assistant professor at the Emory Eye Center who specializes in vitreoretinal surgery and disease.

But the findings underscore a challenge facing the health care industry as it assesses the promise and pitfalls of generative AI, the type of artificial intelligence used by ChatGPT: The accuracy of chatbot-delivered medical information may represent an improvement over Dr. Google, but there are still many questions about how to integrate this new technology into health care systems with the same safeguards historically applied to the introduction of new drugs or medical devices.

The smooth syntax, authoritative tone, and dexterity of generative AI have drawn extraordinary attention from all sectors of society, with some comparing its future impact to that of the internet itself. In health care, companies are working feverishly to implement generative AI in areas such as radiology and medical records. Email Sign-Up

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When it comes to consumer chatbots, though, there is still caution, even though the technology is already widely available and better than many alternatives. Many doctors believe AI-based medical tools should undergo an approval process similar to the FDAs regime for drugs, but that would be years away. Its unclear how such a regime might apply to general-purpose AIs like ChatGPT.

There’s no question we have issues with access to care, and whether or not it is a good idea to deploy ChatGPT to cover the holes or fill the gaps in access, it’s going to happen and it’s happening already, said Jain. People have already discovered its utility. So, we need to understand the potential advantages and the pitfalls.

The Emory study is not alone in ratifying the relative accuracy of the new generation of AI chatbots. A report published in Nature in early July by a group led by Google computer scientists said answers generated by Med-PaLM, an AI chatbot the company built specifically for medical use, compare favorably with answers given by clinicians.

AI may also have better bedside manner. Another study, published in April by researchers from the University of California-San Diego and other institutions, even noted that health care professionals rated ChatGPT answers as more empathetic than responses from human doctors.

Indeed, a number of companies are exploring how chatbots could be used for mental health therapy, and some investors in the companies are betting that healthy people might also enjoy chatting and even bonding with an AI friend. The company behind Replika, one of the most advanced of that genre, markets its chatbot as, The AI companion who cares. Always here to listen and talk. Always on your side.

We need physicians to start realizing that these new tools are here to stay and they’re offering new capabilities both to physicians and patients, said James Benoit, an AI consultant. While a postdoctoral fellow in nursing at the University of Alberta in Canada, he published a study in February reporting that ChatGPT significantly outperformed online symptom checkers in evaluating a set of medical scenarios. They are accurate enough at this point to start meriting some consideration, he said.

Still, even the researchers who have demonstrated ChatGPTs relative reliability are cautious about recommending that patients put their full trust in the current state of AI. For many medical professionals, AI chatbots are an invitation to trouble: They cite a host of issues relating to privacy, safety, bias, liability, transparency, and the current absence of regulatory oversight.

The proposition that AI should be embraced because it represents a marginal improvement over Dr. Google is unconvincing, these critics say.

That’s a little bit of a disappointing bar to set, isn’t it? said Mason Marks, a professor and MD who specializes in health law at Florida State University. He recently wrote an opinion piece on AI chatbots and privacy in the Journal of the American Medical Association. I don’t know how helpful it is to say, Well, let’s just throw this conversational AI on as a band-aid to make up for these deeper systemic issues, he said to KFF Health News.

The biggest danger, in his view, is the likelihood that market incentives will result in AI interfaces designed to steer patients to particular drugs or medical services. Companies might want to push a particular product over another, said Marks. The potential for exploitation of people and the commercialization of data is unprecedented.

OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, also urged caution.

OpenAIs models are not fine-tuned to provide medical information, a company spokesperson said. You should never use our models to provide diagnostic or treatment services for serious medical conditions.

John Ayers, a computational epidemiologist who was the lead author of the UCSD study, said that as with other medical interventions, the focus should be on patient outcomes.

If regulators came out and said that if you want to provide patient services using a chatbot, you have to demonstrate that chatbots improve patient outcomes, then randomized controlled trials would be registered tomorrow for a host of outcomes, Ayers said.

He would like to see a more urgent stance from regulators.

One hundred million people have ChatGPT on their phone, said Ayers, and are asking questions right now. People are going to use chatbots with or without us.

At present, though, there are few signs that rigorous testing of AIs for safety and effectiveness is imminent. In May, Robert Califf, the commissioner of the FDA, described the regulation of large language models as critical to our future, but aside from recommending that regulators be nimble in their approach, he offered few details.

In the meantime, the race is on. In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Mayo Clinic was partnering with Google to integrate the Med-PaLM 2 chatbot into its system. In June, WebMD announced it was partnering with a Pasadena, California-based startup, HIA Technologies Inc., to provide interactive diital health assistants. And the ongoing integration of AI into both Microsofts Bing and Google Search suggests that Dr. Google is already well on its way to being replaced by Dr. Chatbot.

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. Related Topics California Health Industry States Georgia Contact Us Submit a Story Tip

UK

Anthony Joshua beats Jake Paul in heavyweight fight in Miami

Published

2 hours ago

December 20, 2025

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Anthony Joshua beats Jake Paul in heavyweight fight in Miami

Former British heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua delivered a dose of reality to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul as he won their much-anticipated showdown.

Joshua scored three knockdowns before landing a huge right hit on Paul halfway through the sixth round.

The British fighter lifted Paul’s hand in a show of respect after the fight broadcast on the streaming platform Netflix.

“Jake Paul has done really well tonight. I want to give him his props, he got up, time and time again,” he said about his opponent.

Joshua said it “wasn’t the best performance”, adding: “It took a bit longer than expected. But the right hand finally found the destination.”

Meanwhile, Paul said: “I’m feeling good, that was fun. I love this sport. I gave it my all, It’s f****** crazy. I had a blast.

“I got my ass beat, but that’s what this sport is about. I’mma (going to) come back and keep on winning.”

He added: “I just got tired to be honest. He did amazing and hits really hard.”

The fight marked the end of a 14-month hiatus for Joshua, 36, while for 28-year-old Paul it was the biggest fight since his boxing career began in 2020.

At the weigh-in on Friday, Joshua boasted an almost two-stone advantage over Paul, who has regularly fought at cruiserweight since he entered the world of boxing.

Britain’s two-time world heavyweight champion tipped the scales at 243.4lbs (17st 5lbs) for his fight against Paul in Miami, while Paul weighed in at 216lbs (15st 6lbs) – a hefty 1.9st difference.

Joshua, who could not weigh more than 245lbs, is the lightest he has been since his first fight against Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 when he was 240lbs. For his last fight against Daniel Dubois he weighed 252.5Ibs.

It is also only the second time that Paul weighed in over cruiserweight limit – the other time was when he fought 58-year-old Mike Tyson. Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision with 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73.

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UK

David Walliams dropped by publisher HarperCollins UK after allegations of inappropriate behaviour

Published

2 hours ago

December 20, 2025

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David Walliams dropped by publisher HarperCollins UK after allegations of inappropriate behaviour

David Walliams has been dropped by his publisher HarperCollins UK following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

A spokesperson for the company said it had decided not to release any new titles by Walliams “after careful consideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO”.

“HarperCollins takes employee well-being extremely seriously and has processes in place for reporting and investigating concerns,” they added.

“To respect the privacy of individuals, we do not comment on internal matters.”

In a statement later on Friday, a spokesperson for the comedian and children’s author said: “David has never been informed of any allegations raised against him by HarperCollins.

“He was not party to any investigation or given any opportunity to answer questions. David strongly denies that he has behaved inappropriately and is taking legal advice.”

It follows a report from The Telegraph that Walliams was dropped after an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young women.

The 54-year-old, who shot to fame with the BBC sketch show Little Britain, is one of the country’s best-selling children’s writers.

He has written more than 40 books, which have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide and been translated into 55 languages, according to his website.

His first children’s book, The Boy in the Dress, was published by HarperCollins in 2008, and he was awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to charity and the arts.

Walliams is also known for Come Fly With Me, another BBC sketch show, and was formerly part of the judging panel for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

He left the show in 2022 after a recording of him making disparaging comments about contestants was leaked.

The remarks were understood to have been both derogatory and sexually explicit, referring to one contestant as a “c***” and saying of another: “She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t”.

Walliams later released a statement apologising for the “disrespectful comments” and saying they were private conversations that were never meant to be shared.

HarperCollins UK announced in October that it had appointed Kate Elton as its new chief executive, following the departure of former boss Charlie Redmayne.

Sports

CFP first-round takeaways: Special teams collapses and momentum swings for Bama

Published

3 hours ago

December 20, 2025

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CFP first-round takeaways: Special teams collapses and momentum swings for Bama

Bill ConnellyDec 20, 2025, 12:39 AM ET
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The 2025 College Football Playoff got underway in Norman, Oklahoma, on Friday night, and we’ve already seen a first. After all four home teams won by demonstrative margins in last year’s first round, Alabama became the first road team to prevail in a playoff game with a stirring comeback against Oklahoma and a 34-24 win.

Here are the main takeaways. We will update this with each completed game.

What just happened?

Oklahoma’s offense only had 20 minutes in it. The Sooners were perfect out of the gate, bursting to a 17-0 lead against an Alabama team that looked completely unprepared for the moment. But the Crimson Tide adjusted and rallied, and OU had only a brief answer. From 17 down, Bama outscored its hosts by a 34-7 margin from there.

We use the word “momentum” far too much in football, but this was an extremely momentum-based game.

1. Over the first 19 minutes, Oklahoma went up 17-0 while outgaining Bama by a stunning 181-12 margin. It could have been worse, too, as the Sooners’ Owen Heinecke came within millimeters of a blocked punt that might have produced a safety or a touchdown.

2. Over the next 21 minutes, Bama outscored the Sooners 27-0, outgaining them, 194-59. Freshman Lotzeir Brooks caught two touchdown passes — the first on a fourth-and-2 to finally get Bama on the board (after he caught a huge third-down pass earlier in the drive), and the second TD came on a 30-yard lob that put the Tide up for good. The Tide defense got pressure on John Mateer, and his footwork and composure vanished. An egregious pick-six thrown directly to Zabien Brown tied the game, and Bama scored the first 10 points of the second half as well.

Zabien Brown stuns OU with game-tying pick-six before halftime

Zabien Brown takes a big-time interception 50 yards to the house to tie the score before halftime.

OU responded briefly, cutting the margin to three points early in the fourth quarter thanks to a 37-yard Deion Burks touchdown. But the Sooners’ offense couldn’t do enough, and kicker Tate Sandell, the Groza Award winner, missed two late field goals to assure a Bama win.

Tate Sandell’s back-to-back FG misses help Alabama secure 1st-round win

Tate Sandell misses a pair of late field goals as Alabama holds on to beat Oklahoma 34-24 in the CFP first round.

Impact plays

Oklahoma beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in November — in the game that eventually certified the Sooners’ CFP bid — thanks to a pick-six and special teams dominance. But the tables turned completely in Norman. Brown’s pick six was huge, and special teams completely abandoned the Sooners, both with Sandell’s misses and with a botched punt in the second quarter.

The botched punt was actually the second of a two-part sequence that turned the game against the Sooners. First, Mateer passed up an easy third-and-3 conversion to throw downfield to a wide open Xavier Robinson, but he short-armed the pass and dropped it. On the very next snap, punter Grayson Miller dropped the ball moving into his punting motion. Bama’s Tim Keenan III recovered the ball at the OU 30, and while OU’s defense held the Tide to a field goal, what could have been a 24-3 OU lead turned instead into a 17-10 advantage. That set the table for Brown’s pick-six and everything that followed.

The blown early lead leaves Oklahoma with quite the ignominious feat: In the history of the College Football Playoff, teams are 28-2 with a 17-point lead: OU is 0-2, and everyone else is 28-0. Ouch.

See you next fall, Sooners

We knew that whenever Oklahoma’s season ended, offense would be the primary reason. The Sooners survived playing with almost no margin for error for most of the year. Their No. 49 ranking in offensive SP+ was the worst of any CFP team, but they got enough defense (third in defensive SP+), special teams (21st in special teams SP+) and quality red zone play to overcome it.

The Sooners’ defense still played well on Friday night — Bama gained only 260 total yards (4.8 per play) — but the special teams miscues put more pressure on the offense to come through, and after a brilliant start, it ran out of steam. Mateer began the game 10-for-15 for 132 yards with a touchdown, 26 rushing yards and a rushing TD, but his last 31 pass attempts gained just 149 yards with five sacks and the pick, and his last nine non-sack rushes gained just 15 yards.

Brent Venables therefore heads into the offseason with some decisions to make. OU’s offense technically improved after the big-money additions of coordinator Ben Arbuckle and Mateer, but Mateer was scattershot before his midseason hand injury and poor after it. Do the Sooners run it back with the same roster core, hoping that better health and a theoretically improved run game can give the defense what it needs to take OU to the next level? Does Venables hit the reset button again? Can he ever get all the arrows pointed in the right direction at the same time?

What’s next

Alabama’s reward for the comeback win is a trip out West: The Tide will meet unbeaten and top-seeded Indiana in the Rose Bowl on January 1. Bama’s defense will obviously face a stiffer test from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers attack, but Bama’s defense has been mostly up for the test this season. Their ability to pull an upset will be determined by Ty Simpson and the Alabama passing game.

Simpson began Friday night’s win just 2-for-6 with a sack, and while he improved from there and didn’t throw any interceptions — his final passing line: 18-for-29 for 232 yards, two touchdowns and four sacks (6.0 yards per attempt) — his footwork still betrayed him quite a bit over the course of the evening, and he misfired on quite a few passes. Oklahoma’s pass rush is fearsome, but Indiana’s defense ranks seventh in sack rate itself, and with almost no blitzing whatsoever. The Hoosiers generate pressure and clog passing lanes, and they held Oregon‘s Dante Moore and Ohio State‘s Julian Sayin to 5.1 yards per dropback with 11 sacks and two touchdowns to three picks. Bama will be an underdog for a reason.

That said, kudos to the Tide for getting off the mat. They were lifeless at the start, missing tackles and blocks and looking as unprepared as they did in their season-opening loss to Florida State. But Brooks’ play-making lit the fuse, and Bama charged back.