AI Is Upon Us

So whether we like it or not, AI is creeping insidiously into our daily lives, particularly Chat GPT. Now having a wealth of information at your fingertips in seconds seemed like a good idea. After all, look at all the benefits we have reaped from having a smartphone constantly attached to one of our appendages. Social media, an increase in anxiety, depression, suicide, the ability to coordinate looting and riots, and ready access to drugs. Good stuff like that. But now the Wall Street Journal reports that AI is invading medical practices by offering to lighten the burden on overworked physicians by answering their emails from patients. As if your yearly encounter with your primary care physician is not dehumanizing enough, with only seconds of eye contact interspersed with flurries of data entry on their laptops. And sometimes they even touch you. Or was that the nurse, the PA, the NP, or perhaps housekeeping…..you never know; everybody wears scrubs. But with the introduction of MyChart, physicians now find themselves bombarded with patient requests for everything from prescription renewals to diagnostic advice on ailments. Enter Chat GPT. Now, of course, Chat GPT isn’t flying solo…..yet. The physician supposedly  still edits and reviews the AI’s responses. But in a true sign of things to come, they decided that the responses were too clinical, too cold, and didn’t reflect a folksy Norman Rockwell ideal of a family physician, you know, all the things that our physicians of today are not but wished they were. So programmers installed software to make Chat GPT seem caring and interested. If personal information was noted in your chart or technical information recorded in your database, that information could be accessed by Chat GPT and used to “personalize” the correspondence.

Things like if you were on vacation recently or perhaps had a new grandchild, Chat GPT would kindly ask if you enjoyed your vacation or congratulate you on your grandchild, making it seem as though your physician actually remembered your last conversation and took a personal interest in your life when in actuality it was Chat GPT, and it couldn’t care less. Granted, your physician may not care either, but the goal is to have you think they do. Good for business? Probably. Disingenuous?  Perhaps. Spooky? Absolutely. And that should scare everyone. Who can you believe?  Who can you trust in the age of AI?  And it’s going to become more pervasive. Welcome to the Matrix, people.