A Nigerian woman, Toluwanimi Blessing Ibitoye-Fatola, has raised concerns over what she described as a growing practice in hospitals, alleging that some doctors use ChatGPT to process patients’ complaints and guide their diagnoses.
In a post shared online, Ibitoye-Fatola expressed concern that patients could be paying substantial medical consultation fees to doctors who rely on artificial intelligence (AI) tools to determine possible illnesses and recommend the next steps.
According to her, she noticed that some doctors typed details of patients’ complaints into ChatGPT during consultations before using the responses to ask further questions or make medical assessments.
She said the experience left her wondering why patients should visit hospitals and pay for consultations if the doctors were simply relying on AI-generated responses that patients could access themselves for free.
She wrote: “There’s this pandemic going on in hospitals right now.
“Have you noticed that whenever you go to the hospital and you are speaking to some doctors, the doctor is typing everything on ChatGPT, gives you the response or next question from AI and I’m seated wondering why I didn’t speak to AI myself for free and then have to come to a hospital to pay a huge sum to see the doctor who is an AI user.”
Ibitoye-Fatola further claimed that she accidentally saw the ChatGPT interface on a doctor’s screen while he was attempting to carry out another task.
She said the discovery surprised her and prompted her to question the doctor’s educational background, adding that she had allegedly observed similar conduct involving other doctors at the same hospital.
“As God will catch him, I mistakenly saw the interface while he was trying to get something else done. I was awed!
“Am I the only one who has noticed this? This is a serious issue that needs serious attention because KO funny mo ooo,” she added.
The woman also expressed concern about the implications of the alleged practice for healthcare delivery in Nigeria, particularly amid the continued migration of medical professionals abroad in search of better opportunities.
“God epp us, most of our professionals are already ‘japaing’,” she lamented.
Her account has raised questions about the appropriate use of artificial intelligence in medical practice, including patient safety, professional accountability and the need for doctors to rely on proper clinical assessments when diagnosing illnesses.
Although AI tools can assist healthcare professionals with information and clinical decision-making, their responses can be inaccurate and should not replace a doctor’s medical training, examination of patients and professional judgement.
