The launch of ChatGPT Health marks another step in the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and similar technologies into the health information space.
However, advisers have raised concerns about individuals sharing personal data online as well as the risk of increased health anxiety and incorrect results.
ChatGPT Health is designed to enable individuals to upload all of their health documents and test results in a bid to “take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness”, the firm said.
Furthermore, it can also give indications about possible insurance options for consumers.
While the service is not available in the EU, UK or Switzerland yet, it is expected to reach these locations soon.
Dedicated space
Launching the service, ChatGPT said its de-identified analysis of conversations showed more than 230 million people globally asked health and wellness related questions on ChatGPT every week.
It added the health service was built as a dedicated space with added protections for sensitive health information and controls and built on this so responses are informed by an individual’s health information and context.
The technology firm said customers can connect medical records and wellness apps – such as Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal.
This would allow the service to help them understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with their doctor, get advice on how to approach their diet and workout routine, or understand the tradeoffs of different insurance options based on their healthcare patterns.
The service is not intended for diagnosis or treatment, but rather to navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time, not just moments of illness, so people can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.
ChatGPT said that to keep health information protected and secure, the health system operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data.
Conversations will not be used to train ChatGPT’s foundation models and if individuals start a health-related conversation in the mainstream ChatGPT, it will suggest moving into ChatGPT Health for these additional protections.
The service is being launched by providing access to a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience – users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are eligible.
ChatGPT added that it plans to expand access and make it available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.
Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.
Advisers cautious and sceptical
Advisers Health & Protection spoke to understood people were already using AI-powered services for their health needs, but raised concerns about how the service would be used and questioned its outcomes.
John Kerr, director at Incorporate Benefits, points out customers are already using and asking ChatGPT about their health.
“They tell it to prepare me an exercise programme – do this, do that,” Kerr says.
“But I’m not sure the message has gone out that if you put too much into it, it can present issues.
“If you ask it to create you a diet plan or something like that I’m not sure it’s tremendously harmful, but the sharing of personal details onto an open platform carries risk because we don’t know ultimately where this is all going.”
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at Broadstone, adds: “There’s no doubt AI is going to have a transformative impact on healthcare, especially in areas like cancer diagnostics where AI tools can be trained to analyse screening results far faster, and more accurately, than humans.
“However, we would advise extreme caution before sharing personal medical information with open AI tools.
“Not only are there obvious concerns around data privacy, generative AI is prone to errors and there is a real risk of people being caused unnecessary distress if they are provided with false or misleading information regarding their health.”
Dangers associated with self-diagnosis
Kristian Breeze, director of healthcare at Ascend Health, was doubtful people would stick to the limitations and says everyone can be been guilty of going online and self-diagnosing.
“I had a backache once and diagnosed myself with a rare form of spinal cancer,” Breeze says, but adds without actually using the system, it is difficult to draw conclusions.
“It’s very difficult to say, but they would have to put strong parameters in place to stop people making wild assumptions about themselves,” Breeze continues.
“Particularly, these things lend themselves to people who have some level of health anxiety anyway.
“I have an aunt who swears blind she’s got every condition under the sun and spends a lot of time self-diagnosing.
“For people like that, I don’t think it would be healthy at all.
“In some instances it could be good clearly, but they would have to set parameters on what that would be like in real terms.”
Alan Lakey, director of CIExpert and Highclere Financial Services, tells Health & Protection the launch did give some opportunities for customers.
“Anything that assists consumers in understanding their health and assists in reducing obesity has to be welcomed, but I would need to know more and have a better understanding of the risk potential,” Lakey says.
