GPT-4 gives medical advice that saves doctors’ time but can be harmful

AI chatbots that answer medical queries could save doctors’ time, but also run the risk of making recommendations that harm the people seeking advice.

Shan Chen at Harvard University and his colleagues conducted an experiment in which six oncologists addressed a variety of questions from 100 fictional people with cancer, who the doctors knew were not real. The questions were presented via a hospital electronic messaging system.

Each oncologist was…