Obviously, there is one piece of advice: Even if LLMs were the best health professionals, they would only have the information that users voluntarily provide through text/speech input. This is not how real health services work. Medical science now relies on blood/(whatever) tests that LLMs do not (yet) have access to. Therefore, the output from LLM advice can be incorrect due to a lack of information from tests. For this reason, it makes sense to never trust LLM with a specific health advice.
While what you're saying is good advice, that's not what they are saying. They want people to be able to ask ChatGPT for medical advice, give answers that sound authoritative and well grounded medical science, but then disavow any liability if someone follows their advice because "Hey, we told you not to act on our medical advice!"
If ChatGPT is so smart, why can't it stop itself from giving out advice that should not be trusted?
They’re also good at extracting information in a way that (at least currently) sycophantic LLMs don’t replicate.
Sometimes. Sometimes they practice by text or phone.
> They’re also good at extracting information in a way that (at least currently) sycophantic LLMs don’t replicate.
If I had to guess, I think I'd guess that mainstream LLM chatbots are better at getting honest and applicable medical histories than most doctors. People are less likely to lie/hide/prevaricate and get more time with the person.
For very simple issues. For anything even remotely complicated, they’re going to have you come in.
> If I had to guess, I think I'd guess that mainstream LLM chatbots are better at getting honest and applicable medical histories than most doctors. People are less likely to lie/hide/prevaricate and get more time with the person.
It’s not just about being intentionally deceptive. It’s very easy to get chat bots to tell you what you want to hear.
That says nothing about whether it is an appropriate substitute. People prefer doctors who prescribe antibiotics for viral infections, so I have no doubt that many people would love to use a service that they can manipulate to give them whatever diagnosis they desire.
Rarely. Most visits are done in 5 minutes. The physician that takes their time to check everything like you claim almost does not exist anymore.
The difference is a telehealth is much better at recognizing "I can't given an accurate answer for this over the phone, you'll need to have some tests done" or cast doubt on the patient's accuracy of claims.
Before someone points out telehealth doctors aren't perfect at this: correct, but that should make you more scared of how bad sycophantic LLMs are at the same - not willing to call it even.
I'm not sure this is true.
This is largely because an LLM guessing an answer is rewarded more often than just not answering, which is not true in the healthcare profession.
Even in the rare case where an LLM does reply with I don’t know go see your doctor, all you have to do is ask it again until you get a response you want.
But even then just because you don’t think they are using most of their senses, doesn’t mean they aren’t.
In the US people on Medicaid frequently use emergency rooms as primary care because they are open 24/7 and they don’t have any copays like people with private insurance do. These patients then get far more tests than they’d get at a PCP.
Like it or not there are people out there that really want to use webMD 2.0. they're not going to let something silly like blood work get in their way.
AI can give you whatever information, be it good or wrong. But it takes zero responsibility.
One of the things I respected OpenAI for at the release of ChatGPT was not trying to prevent these topics. My employer at the time had a cutting-edge internal LLM chatbot for a which was post-trained to avoid them, something I think they were forced to be braver about in their public release because of the competitive landscape.
I asked the "expert" itself (ChatGPT), and apparently you can ask for medical advice, you just can't use the medical advice without consulting a medical professional:
Here are relevant excerpts from OpenAI’s terms and policies regarding medical advice and similar high-stakes usage:
From the Usage Policies (effective October 29 2025):
“You may not use our services for … provision of tailored advice that requires a license, such as legal or medical advice, without appropriate involvement by a licensed professional.”
Also: “You must not use any Output relating to a person for any purpose that could have a legal or material impact on that person, such as making … medical … decisions about them.”
From the Service Terms:
“Our Services are not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of any health condition. You are responsible for complying with applicable laws for any use of our Services in a medical or healthcare context.”
In plain terms, yes—the Terms of Use permit you to ask questions about medical topics, but they clearly state that the service cannot be used for personalized, licensed medical advice or treatment decisions without a qualified professional involved.
Ah drats. First they ban us from cutting the tags off our mattress, and now this. When will it all end...
I am not a doctor, I can't give medical advice no matter what my sources are, except maybe if I am just relaying the information an actual doctor has given me, but that would fall under the "appropriate involvement" part.
Disclaimers like “I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice” aren’t just for avoiding civil liability, they’re to make it clear that you aren’t representing yourself as a doctor.
Am I allowed to get haircutting advice (in places where there's a license for that)? How about driving directions? Taxi drivers require licensing. Pet grooming?
Both of these, separately and taken together, indicate that the terms apply to how the output of ChatGPT is used, not a change to its output altogether.
https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/usage-policies/