紐時賞析／對美醫療體系失望 患者轉向AI尋求建議

聊天機器人費用便宜、且表面上有同理心，儘管有時會出錯，有些人仍願意承擔風險。紐約時報

Empathetic, Available, Cheap: When A.I. Offers What Doctors Don't

對美醫療體系失望 患者轉向AI尋求建議

Driven in part by frustrations with the medical system, more and more Americans are seeking advice from artificial intelligence. Last year, about 1 in 6 adults — and about a quarter of adults under 30 — used chatbots to find health information at least once a month, according to a survey from KFF, a health policy research group. Those numbers are probably higher now, said Liz Hamel, who directs survey research at the group.

對醫療體系的不滿，促使愈來愈多美國人開始向人工智慧尋求建議。根據醫療政策研究機構KFF的調查，去年約每6名成年人就有一人、30歲以下族羣則有4分之1，每月至少一次使用聊天機器人查詢健康資訊。負責調查的麗茲．哈梅爾表示，數據現在可能更高。

In dozens of interviews, Americans described using chatbots to try to compensate for the health system’s shortcomings. A self-employed woman in Wisconsin routinely asked ChatGPT whether it was safe to forgo expensive appointments. A writer in rural Virginia used ChatGPT to navigate surgical recovery in the weeks before a doctor could see her. A psychologist in Georgia sought answers after her providers brushed off concerns about a side effect of her cancer treatment.

在數十次受訪中，多名美國人表示，他們利用聊天機器人彌補醫療體系的缺陷。威斯康辛州一名自僱婦女經常詢問ChatGPT是否可以跳過昂貴的預約門診；維吉尼亞州鄉間的一位作家，則在手術後等待看診期間，靠ChatGPT指引康復流程；喬治亞州的一名心理學家在醫師對其癌症治療副作用的疑慮置之不理後，也向 ChatGPT尋求答案。

Some know that AI can get things wrong. But they appreciate that it is available at all hours, charges next to nothing and makes them feel seen with convincing impressions of empathy.

有些人知道AI可能答錯，但他們仍然欣賞它全天候可用、幾乎不需花費，且透過看似同理的語氣讓人感到被理解。

“All of us now are starting to put so much stock in this that it’s a little bit worrisome,” said Rick Bisaccia, 70, of Ojai, California. “But it’s very addicting because it presents itself as being so sure of itself.”

住在加州奧海鎮、70歲的比薩西亞表示：「我們所有人現在都開始愈來愈依賴這個東西，這令人有些擔憂。它總是表現得很有自信，讓人很容易上癮。」

Chatbots routinely suggest diagnoses, interpret lab results and advise on treatment, even offering scripts to help persuade doctors to follow AI-generated treatment plans. But AI is not well suited for the kinds of questions it is often asked. Somewhat counterintuitively, chatbots may excel at solving difficult diagnostic quandaries, but they often struggle with basic health decisions, like whether to stop taking blood thinners before surgery.

聊天機器人時常提供診斷建議、解讀檢驗結果、甚至給出說服醫師採用AI治療方案的「溝通話術」。但AI並不擅長人們最常提出的問題。有些違反直覺的是，AI在複雜的診斷難題上可能表現亮眼，但在更基礎的健康決策上卻常常失準，例如術前是否應停用抗凝血劑。

Representatives for OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, and for Microsoft, which makes Copilot, said the companies take the accuracy of health information seriously and are working with medical experts to improve responses.

企業如開發ChatGPT的 OpenAI與開發Copilot的微軟皆表示，公司十分重視健康資訊的正確性，並且正與醫療專家合作以改善相關回復。

For all the limitations, it’s not hard to understand why people are turning to chatbots, said Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Americans sometimes wait months to see a specialist, pay hundreds of dollars per visit and feel that their concerns are not taken seriously.

舊金山加州大學醫學系主任勞勃．瓦赫特說，儘管AI有許多限制，但人們求助聊天機器人其實完全不難理解。美國人有時要等上好幾個月才能看專科醫師，每次問診要付數百美元，而自身疑慮往往得不到重視。

“If the system worked, the need for these tools would be far less,” Wachter said. “But in many cases, the alternative is either bad or nothing.”

瓦赫特同時指出：「如果體系運作良好，對這些工具的需求就會大幅減少。但是在許多狀況下，替代方案效果不是很差不然就是根本不存在。」

文／Teddy Rosenbluth and Maggie Astor，譯／羅方妤

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