--- title: "OpenAI CEO Says AI Will Give Medical Advice to People Too Poor to Afford Doctors" description: "Sam Altman, ever full of bright ideas, thinks that AI will be a force for good that will help poor people without healthcare become \"healthier.\"" date: "2023-02-21" modified: "2023-02-21" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ceo-ai-medical-advice" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI CEO Says AI Will Give Medical Advice to People Too Poor to Afford Doctors ![Sam Altman, ever full of bright ideas, thinks that AI will be a force for good that will help poor people without healthcare become "healthier."]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Altman's Thoughts OpenAI's [ludicrously popular]() AI chatbot ChatGPT is prone to saying some [stupid]() and [outright made-up]() stuff a lot of the time. And if recent remarks are any indicator, so is the company's CEO Sam Altman. From [admitting he's a doomsday prepper]() worried about an AI or virus apocalypse, or speculating that AI could [break capitalism,]() or even calling ChatGPT a "[horrible product]()" — which might be true, but is arguably a silly thing to say as the company's CEO — we're all just unwitting recipients of Altman's Thoughts. Altman was apparently especially inspired over this weekend, [tweeting out]() his latest giga-brained idea on how benevolent AIs will improve the world: AI giving medical advice to people too poor for actual healthcare. "The adaptation to a world deeply integrated with AI tools is probably going to happen pretty quickly," he wrote. "The benefits (and fun!) have too much upside." "These tools will help us be more productive (can't wait to spend less time doing email!), healthier (AI medical advisors for people who can't afford care), smarter (students using ChatGPT to learn), and more entertained (AI memes lolol)," he continued. ## Bad Advice As we've covered at *Futurism*, there are plenty of reasons to be doubtful about the prospect of getting serious advice from an AI, let alone having one be your "AI medical advisor." We can't even trust AI to give solid health tips and medical information even after it's supposedly been double-checked by an editor. Remember when a *Men's Journal* health article written by AI was found to contain an [outrageous number of factual errors]()? Some of those errors may be attributable to getting a few details mixed up or minor changes in grammar that change the veracity of a "fact," but AIs are also well known to completely **"**[hallucinate]()" [convincing-sounding statements]() that have no basis in reality. To his credit, though, Altman acknowledges that AI tools are still "somewhat broken," and that institutions will need "enough time" to "figure out what to do" with AI — though he does admit we're "not that far away from potentially scary ones." Still, if he's so convinced that AI will ultimately be a force for good, what's he doing with a doomsday patch of land in Big Sur in the event of an "AI that attacks us"? Don't worry about it. **More on OpenAI:** *[Elon Musk Horrified by What OpenAI Has Become]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()