AI chatbots can diagnose medical conditions at home. How good are they?

As more people turn to chat-based AIs for medical advice, it remains to be seen how these tools stack up against—or could complement—human doctors. According to Marzyeh Ghassemi, a computer scientist at the Jameel Clinic, the epicentre of machine learning and health at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while AI chatbots could be a valuable tool, they should not replace the expertise of trained medical professionals. In particular, Marzyeh highlights the lag of regulatory bodies to catch up with the pace of AI development and deployment, and is concerned that chatbots will perpetuate racism, sexism, and other types of prejudice that persist in medicine—and across the Internet.