A columnist shared his health data with ChatGPT. The chatbot got a lot of things disturbingly wrong.
ChatGPT’s new health feature, which promises to interpret data from wearables like the Apple Watch, left a columnist with more questions than answers after he provided it with a decade’s worth of personal health records and received a disturbing—and incorrect—assessment.
Geoffrey Fowler, The Washington Post's technology columnist, granted ChatGPT access to 29 million steps and 6 million heartbeats logged over years by his Apple Watch. After requesting a cardiovascular health grade, the chatbot gave him an “F.” When prompted again, it later upgraded him to a “C” and at times fluctuated up to a “B.” Fowler’s real-life doctor, however, disagreed with ChatGPT's dire predictions about Fowler's health, saying he was at low risk for cardiac events. Another doctor reviewing the information called the mistakes made by the chatbot, “totally unacceptable.“ Stock image: Apple Watch with Sport Band White color. Why it Matters While artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT Health and Claude for Healthcare promote themselves as tools for better understanding long-term wellness trends, their inability to consistently interpret data or offer medically sound conclusions may lead to unnecessary anxiety—or false reassurance. OpenAI, in a statement to the Post, acknowledged that ChatGPT may weigh different data sources slightly differently across sessions. What to Know Both OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health and Anthropic’s Claude for Healthcare encourage users to upload data from platforms like Apple Health and they state they are not substitutes for clinical care. However, both bots provide detailed analyses that mimic medical evaluation—including fitness grades and health alerts. Fowler’s experiment showed that ChatGPT based much of its scoring on Apple Watch estimates of VO2 max and heart-rate variability—metrics which can be prone to error. What People Are Saying Critics on Reddit's r/Apple forum were unsurprised to find that ChatGPT's medical analysis was far from perfect. “OpenAI recklessly and irresponsibly diving into a market and lying about what their tools can do,“ one quipped, “This has to be fake news.“ Elsewhere, “My experience with it is, it just doesn't work,“ another user added. “Like it can't even consistently get data that is clearly in my Apple Health. Also it seemed to make up the date/time for a run I did, which makes think this doesn't work at all.“ A fellow commenter made their opinion clear: “Don't put your life in this s***, Apple or not. Go see a doctor every time you're supposed to.“ Finally, one individual summed things up succinctly: “: ChatGPT is not a doctor.“ What’s Next AI companies have signaled they will continue developing health-related products without regulatory classification as medical tools. Newsweek has reached out to OpenAI for comment via email. To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, click here.
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