Medical researchers are urging the public to use caution when seeking health advice from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, after a man developed a rare neurotoxic condition following a conversation with ChatGPT about removing table salt from his diet.
In a case documented by physicians at the University of Washington and published on Aug. 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a 60-year-old man was diagnosed with bromism, a toxic reaction to bromide so severe that doctors placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold.
As researchers noted, bromism was “well-recognized” in the early 20th century and thought to have accounted for almost one in 10 psychiatric admissions at that time, largely due to the widespread use of bromide in over-the-counter sedative drugs. Its occurrence plummeted after the Food and Drug Administration restricted bromide salts in ingestible products….