Is getting faster medical test results with Elon Musk's AI bot Grok safe? Doctors warn 'buyer beware'
Promise and Pitfalls of AI Diagnostics
Musk urged users to “try submitting x-ray, PET, MRI, or other medical images to Grok for analysis,” adding that the tool “is already quite accurate and will become extremely good.” Many users responded, sharing Grok’s feedback on brain scans, fractures, and more. “Had it check out my brain tumor, not bad at all,” one user posted. However, not all experiences were positive. In one case, Grok misdiagnosed a fractured clavicle as a dislocated shoulder; in another, it mistook a benign breast cyst for testicles.
Such mixed results underline the complexities of using general-purpose AI for medical diagnoses. Medical professionals like Suchi Saria, director of the machine learning and healthcare lab at Johns Hopkins University, stress that accurate AI in healthcare requires robust, high-quality, and diverse datasets. “Anything less,” she warned, “is a bit like a hobbyist chemist mixing ingredients in the kitchen sink.”
The Privacy Quandary: Who Owns Your Data?
A significant concern is the privacy implications of uploading sensitive health information to an AI chatbot. Unlike healthcare providers governed by laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), platforms like X operate without such safeguards. “This is very personal information, and you don’t exactly know what Grok is going to do with it,” said Bradley Malin, professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University.
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