Woman says ChatGPT saved her life by helping detect cancer, which doctors missed

Lauren Bannon, who divides her time between North Carolina and the U.S. Virgin Islands, first noticed in February 2024 that she was having trouble bending her fingers in the morning and evening, as reported by Kennedy News and Media.

Desperate to pinpoint the cause of her symptoms, Bannon turned to ChatGPT, the large-language model made by OpenAI.

The chatbot told Bannon that she may have Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune condition where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland, causing it to become inflamed and eventually underactive, according to Kennedy News and Media.

"I needed to find out what was happening to me, I just felt so desperate. I just wasn't getting the answers I needed."

"I didn't have the typical symptoms of Hashimoto's disease - I wasn't tired or feeling exhausted," she said, per Kennedy News and Media.

"If I hadn't looked on ChatGPT, I would've just taken the rheumatoid arthritis medication and the cancer would've spread from my neck to everywhere else."

"It saved my life. I would've never discovered this without ChatGPT. All my tests were perfect."

"If it gives you something to look into, ask your doctors to test you," she suggested. "It can't do any harm. I feel lucky to be alive."

"AI is not a replacement for human medical expertise," he told Fox News Digital. "These tools can assist, alert and even comfort - but they can't diagnose, examine or treat."

"When used responsibly, AI can enhance healthcare outcomes - but when used in isolation, it can be dangerous," Castro went on. "We must prioritize patient safety and keep licensed medical professionals at the center of care."

Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, for comment.