ChatGPT Sent Me to the ER | Hacker News Reader

ChatGPT Sent Me to the ER

benorenstein.substack.com

23 pointstedsanders11 comments

my dad has a similar story. the voice of reason can be very helpful for people who take pride in telling themselves “it’s fine”. thanks Chat!

Anecdotal evidence: the gold standard!

This title is clickbait. The implication ("following ChatGPT advice caused an emergency requiring an ER visit") is nearly the opposite of the central claim made ("ChatGPT encouraged me to go to the ER, and it turned out to be a life-saving decision").

That’s your interpretation.

When I read the title I thought about positive case [ChatGPT saved my life], not the negative one.

Asking about the logic here: this is a form of fallacy...kinda?

His "interpretation" or guess, wasn't worse or better than yours.

Therefore, his statement about a misleading title is not invalidated because you guessed in the opposite direction.

Let's say

Hypothesis 1

Article is negative (ChatGPT gave bad medical advice and that led to the E.R.)

Then * His guess -> is correct

* Your guess -> is wrong

Hypothesis 2

Article is positive

Then

* His guess -> is wrong

* Your guess -> is correct

Conclusion:

In any case you had NO way to know beforehand

So, in what ways pointing out that this is "his interpretation" invalidates anything he said?

Of course, it is his guess and based on the title alone, it's at least an equally valid guess as yours.

I say "at least", because it's not unreasonable to think that an LLM might have hallucinated some medical advice and that could lead someone to have an unhealthy practice which led them to the E.R.

Same here. It's very similar to a lot of the "Apple Watch saved my life" stories/headlines.

> That’s your interpretation.

It's the ordinary understanding of the idiom.

I can add to this. About a month ago, a friend had abdominal pains but was reluctant to go to A&E (Emergency Room).

I had my suspicions, but checked them with ChatGPT. The LLM said it was highly likely to be appendicitis, and that he should seek urgent medical attention, and also not eat or drink (other than water) as they may need to operate quite soon.

I passed it on, he went to A&E, and it all played out that way.

I’ve since switched my subscription to Gemini for work related reasons, but it has also been very helpful in my Gastritis recovery as I try to avoid flareups from dietary choices.

A typical HN stance is waiting for this fad to go away, but it certainly does have uses for me (currently being briefed by Gemini on an unfamiliar DIY task).

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