AI (artificial intelligence) isn’t really new, but it is a current hot topic.

Some form of AI or machine learning has been in play for more than a decade.

But the new large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini are the new kids on the block (since late 2022) and are constantly evolving.

AI models like these are being used more and more every day by an ever-increasing number of people.

Plenty of people are using AI for work, and plenty of people are using it for fun…

Now the question is, who is using AI for health, and should you?

It’s something I think everyone should consider.

Without a doubt, doctors will increasingly use AI.  There’s even a strong chance that some specialties in medicine may be entirely done by AI in the future (radiology, for instance, could likely be done entirely by computers someday).

I think that, as scary as AI can be, it can also be a major benefit to us.

So I’ll explore this today.

What is AI, Really?

When we think of AI systems like ChatGPT, what you’re looking at is a network of computers that are all synced up together that have access to almost everything on the first layer of the Internet.

They are trained specifically to take that information, analyze it, and then provide predictive modeling to help answer prompts and questions from users.

These systems do not think for themselves (yet), not in the way we do, nor are they entirely autonomous (meaning humans keep them functioning).

They’re specifically what we call Artificial General Intelligence.

They are not independent entities, but they are incredibly “smart,” knowledgeable, and incredibly insightful.

And these qualities mean that they can be turned to as a resource in your journey to manage your health.

Four Ways You Could Use AI to Help Manage Your Health

As I mentioned, most of these AI systems have access to an incredible wealth of information, and they not only can view it, but they can interpret it and make connections to a bunch of other variables to give you answers.

While you are unique in all the world, there are characteristics about you that are similar to other people.

This means that if you discuss yourself in a general sense, an AI system can gain an idea of who you are and what you want.

And this is how you can use AI to get results for improving your health.

Here are some examples

1 – Helps Create Exercise Routines:

One of the main reasons people hire personal trainers is that they don’t know where to start in the gym.

Personal trainers typically offer a handful of services for their clients.

They help with:

• Dietary input
• Exercise Routines
• Feedback on Form

And more.

Depending on your goals, you can easily use AI to create both a diet and an exercise routine to reach certain health goals.

Imagine you’re looking to gain muscle. You could put a prompt into an AI system and tell them all about you, what you want, what kinds of foods you like to eat, what kind of exercise equipment you have, what kind of kitchen equipment you have,  how much time you have, and how often you’d like to work out, and it can give you an incredibly holistic diet and exercise routine to follow.

Best of all, it can do this incredibly fast, and if you need to change it, that’s as simple as modifying your prompt.

Depending on the level of AI you’re using, you can likely even submit videos of yourself exercising to have it critique your form.

That’s pretty impressive.

2 – Helps With Recipes:

Without a doubt, food is one of the most important ingredients for good health.

In my experience, one of the reasons people “fall off the wagon” when it comes to sticking to a healthy diet is that they become bored with their diet.

This is why people are always searching for new recipes.

AI can help to give you custom-tailored recipes that you can follow to keep things interesting if you’re trying to stick to a “healthier” diet.

While AI won’t make the meal for you, with AI, you can save money on cookbooks and save time searching for recipes you might enjoy.

3 – Help Gain Insights Into An Illness:

One of the primary reasons people visit a doctor is that they don’t feel well and want to improve their health.

I believe AI can help people do some of their own “research” to help get them better, or at least to understand the severity of an illness.

Here’s an example.

Recently, Dr. Lantelme’s daughter-in-law was experiencing shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and dizziness.

She was initially dismissive of the symptoms because they weren’t all that severe.

However, Dr. Lantelme’s son plugged in all the pertinent information regarding her symptoms, as well as her lifestyle, into ChatGPT. From that, he was able to make a determination that recent travel put her at an increased risk of blood clots.

When she complained of pressure in her leg, Dr. Lantelme’s son remembered that this was a sign of a potential clot and rushed her to the ER when she had been planning on going to a doctor a few days later.

This kind of use of AI is much better than googling your symptoms and reading a random article that basically says you have cancer.

In the future, I believe wearable biosensors (which I’ve written articles on) could be linked to AI systems to provide real-time assessments of health and alert you to potential issues.

Now, I want to add that I don’t think AI replaces the need for a doctor, nor should you use it as an exclusive substitute for a trained health professional. However, it can certainly help you gain a better understanding of your body and develop an informed opinion about your symptoms.

4 – Help Make Sense of Labs

Another helpful approach is for patients to utilize AI to better understand their lab results.

Often, when a person undergoes a series of lab tests, they may be confused about what the results even mean.

Yes, a health professional can help interpret the results, but you can also plug them into an AI and obtain information from it.

Additionally, you can then work with AI to use those labs and other inputs (from you) to get a sense for how your behavior might be influencing them.

Please note that AI is not private, and publicly available AI does not comply with HIPAA regulations.

There’s A Lot More To be Sure

This is just a sample of what AI can currently do, and I believe it will continue to improve over time.

Here’s a list of other benefits:

• Accountability partner for habit tracking
• Motivational interviewing simulations
• Cognitive reframing for negative self-talk
• Guided mindfulness and meditation scripts
• CBT-style questioning for distorted thoughts
• Gratitude journaling prompts
• Sleep hygiene audits
• Custom wind-down routine creation
• Dream journaling assistance
• Symptom pattern tracking
• Nutrient-drug interaction checks
• Micronutrient deficiency checklists
• Proactive health calendar creation
• Family health history pattern analysis
• Environmental toxin and disruptor audits
• Ergonomic workspace optimization
• Scientific study translation and summarization
• Comparison of conventional and alternative treatment options

All this being said, I do think there are dangers to AI, too.

One is that people will improperly self-diagnose and then offer their own custom health treatments that are ineffective or even dangerous. This is even more possible with a Google search.

People may mistakenly believe that AI is just as good as a doctor’s visit, which definitely isn’t true.

I also believe AI opens up the door to transhumanism, which I am personally not a fan of.

There’s a push to turn people into machines (essentially) and to live forever, and I believe that this opens up the door to some very questionable future decisions on ethics.

And as mentioned earlier, AI is not private. If you are concerned about privacy, read the Privacy Policy on whatever AI tool you are using.

 

Talk soon,

Dr. Wiggy

www.HealthAsItOughtToBe.com