A doctor’s advice on consulting AI

Over a third of Americans use AI for health advice. In 2025, 66 percent of physicians also used it.

Dr. Adam Rodman, director of AI programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston says, “I believe that when used appropriately, these large language models [AI chatbots] are the greatest tool for empowering patients since the invention of the internet.”

He recommends using chatbots, such as ChatGPT, to enhance, not replace, your medical appointments. To do this, he suggests first pulling up your doctor’s medical notes (they should be available online). After removing all your identifiable information, copy those notes into a chatbot. Next, give the chatbot an update of your condition, then ask it to concisely summarize all this information. Finally, ask the chatbot: “Given this context about my health, please give me three questions I should ask my doctor about [insert health concern here] during my upcoming visit.”

Because chatbots depend on having a full picture of your health and medical conditions, Dr. Rodman says you can learn how to describe your symptoms by asking the chatbot to “interview me as if you’re a doctor.” Such a question-and-answer session can lead to a clearer explanation of your condition and help to exclude other conditions that might cause unnecessary alarm.

Chatbots try to please their users by adding layers of information. For this reason, you need to be aware they may lead you down a rabbit hole of scary possibilities. To avoid this, you need to tell the chatbot explicitly why you are asking a question. For example, “I am having a bad headache today. Here is my last note from my primary care doctor. What are some strategies to make it better?”

Diagnostic errors cause almost 800,000 deaths or permanent disabilities in the United States each year. For this reason, Dr. Rodman believes that AI can be one of our best tools for saving patients’ lives. At the same time, he advises that you need to be cautious about seeking second opinions from chatbots or rely on it for advice on treatment plans. Just use what you’ve learned as a conversation starter with your doctor.

I've never tried any of these suggestions.

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