Artificial Intelligence has dominated conversations over the past few years, and this year, I’ve noticed its impact on my patients in a concerning way. Where I once heard “I Googled my symptoms,” I now hear “ChatGPT recommended…” or “Gemini suggested…” Some patients arrive with complete AI-generated treatment plans, asking for my stamp of approval. Others have mentioned they’re considering skipping professional medical visits altogether to save money, relying on AI instead.
This trend worried me enough to run an experiment.
What I Discovered When I Played Patient
I decided to approach ChatGPT as a patient would, asking a common question: what are the best supplements for fatigue?
ChatGPT provided a list of ten products backed by just five references. I expected an AI—with access to vast databases and the ability to process information at lightning speed—to scan thousands of sources. Instead, I got two supplement manufacturer websites, one clinic site, a Wikipedia entry, and an article from Yahoo Health.
When I challenged this approach, pointing out the limited and potentially biased sources, ChatGPT apologized and offered to rebuild its recommendations using peer-reviewed studies.
This should have been the starting point, not the fallback.
When I pressed further, asking why it hadn’t prioritized reliable scientific sources from the beginning, the answer was revealing: the AI is “optimized for speed and readability.” It’s designed to provide quick, practical answers without “overwhelming” users with dense scientific papers. In other words, convenience trumps accuracy in its default settings.
The Real Problem: We Stop at the First Answer
Here’s what concerns me most: the majority of my patients would have stopped after seeing that initial list of supplements. Almost no one checks the sources. Almost no one asks the follow-up questions I asked. Their next question is usually about dosage, not validity. They’ve already accepted the information as fact and moved on to implementation.
This mirrors the problem we’ve had with Google for years.
When patients email me about something they found online and I ask for their sources, no one can provide them. They’ve already moved past verification to action.
This blind trust is dangerous, particularly when it comes to your health.
A supplement that works safely and successfully for one person might interact dangerously with another’s medications. A treatment approach suitable for one condition might worsen another. These nuances require professional evaluation, not a generalized algorithm.
When you visit a doctor, you’re seeing a licensed specialist who has completed rigorous training and maintains professional standards. That licensure provides built-in quality control—board certifications, continuing education requirements, malpractice insurance, and accountability to medical boards. Many people assume ChatGPT performs similar fact-checking, but as my experiment revealed, it doesn’t. It openly admitted being optimized for convenience, not scientific rigor.
If you want reliable medical information from AI, you have to explicitly demand it—and even then, you need the expertise to evaluate what you receive. You need to know which questions to ask, which sources are trustworthy, and how to interpret medical information in the context of your unique health situation.
What AI Can’t Replicate: Clinical Wisdom
After ten years in practice, I’ve found that some of my most valuable knowledge doesn’t come from textbooks or journals. It comes from medical conferences where I sit with fellow naturopathic doctors, trading clinical pearls we’ve gathered from real patient experiences.
These insights are invaluable. When does a treatment protocol need adjustment? Which patients tend to respond better to specific approaches? What are the subtle warning signs that suggest a different diagnosis? How do you navigate the delicate balance between symptom management and addressing root causes? These lessons, refined through years of treating actual patients and learning from both successes and failures, rarely make it into published literature.
They might appear in a few specialized books, but mostly they live in doctors’ brains and notebooks—shared in hallway conversations, case reviews, and mentorship relationships. No one is feeding this collective wisdom into AI systems. This experiential knowledge, built through the irreplaceable process of working directly with patients over time, is what sets human doctors apart from algorithms.
There’s also the critical element of clinical judgment that develops through practice. I can look at a patient—their posture, energy level, skin tone, how they describe their symptoms—and gather information that no questionnaire can capture. I can adjust my questions based on subtle cues, follow hunches that don’t fit neat diagnostic algorithms, and integrate years of pattern recognition into personalized treatment plans.
Moving Forward Responsibly
None of this means AI is worthless for health information. It can be useful for understanding general concepts, learning medical terminology, or getting a broad overview of a condition. But it should be the starting point for informed questions to ask your doctor, not a replacement for professional medical care.
The Bottom Line
Your health deserves more than a quick, “readable” answer. It deserves expertise, experience, and personalized care that accounts for your unique medical history, current medications, lifestyle factors, and individual health goals. That’s something AI simply cannot provide.
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Dr. Sherry Su, ND, FABNG
Naturopathic Doctor San Jose
408-356-1364
Dr. Sherry Su is a licensed naturopathic doctor specializing in gastrointestinal disorders, women’s health, thyroid and adrenal imbalances, and anxiety. She earned her degree from Bastyr University and holds the prestigious FABNG certification for advanced expertise in evidence-based naturopathic gastrointestinal care. With a compassionate, integrative approach, Dr. Su uses minimally invasive therapies to help patients reclaim their health and well-being. She is passionate about empowering patients with sustainable lifestyle changes and personalized care.
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