Fake Medical Advice from Two Sources

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The other day, I wrote an article about the use of Artificial Intelligence in modern Viking music. There are historical inaccuracies, but admittedly, some is layered and quite good — when people do more than type a prompt and let AI do everything. Authors and AI have noticeable failings.

People are polarized about the use of AI. Some act like it is a secular savior of the world, others detest dealing with chatbots. A big problem is that AI can hallucinate and make up its own "facts," and even be deceived, then give medical advice.

Social media, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (geralt)
Another online way of getting medical advice is through influencers, those folks who have reputations on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and other social(ist) media sites. If you use the mind that God gave you and think, consider that short videos cannot give sufficient information. You may have conditions that make taking that herbal supplement they recommend a disaster. Some say a food is bad because it contains cellulose, which is in wood, so evil companies use it as filler. Guess what, buttercup? If you ate anything from plants, you consumed cellulose — it's integral to plant cell walls.

Let this cowboy influence you. First, think and maintain healthy skepticism. Second, so some research. Third, medical things should be run by medical professionals before ingesting something. You savvy those, pilgrim?
Consider the high risks of making a chatbot — or an influencer — your doctor. At American Council on Science and Health, Mauro Proença warns against relying on such sources for medical advice. The story he reports is certainly sobering: A research team decided to set up popular chatbots with deliberately false information:

To read the rest of this very interesting short article, visit "Beware of These Two Sources of Bad Medical Advice."