Is ChatGPT a Reliable Source for Breast Cancer Info?

Can ChatGPT give women accurate advice on breast cancer screening? This popular chatbot uses artificial intelligence to understand and respond to user requests in a human-like way. The company says it's been trained in a variety of topics, including healthcare.

In a new study, researchers submitted 25 questions about breast cancer screening to ChatGPT to see what responses were generated. A team of radiologists trained in mammography evaluated the responses. The radiologists found that the ChatGPT responses were appropriate for 22 out of the 25 questions. That's an accuracy rate of 88%, which Dr. Paul Y called "pretty amazing." He says "ChatGPT correctly answered questions about the symptoms of breast cancer, who is at risk, and questions on the cost, age, and frequency recommendations concerning mammograms."

However, the bot also provided one answer based on outdated information, and two other questions received inconsistent responses. The researchers say ChatGPT responses weren't always comprehensive, and they did see cases where the bot made up fake journal articles or health consortiums to support its claims. Dr. Y says "Consumers should be aware that these are new, unproven technologies and should still rely on their doctor rather than ChatGPT for advice."