{"id":5155,"date":"2026-01-30T09:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/uncategorized\/risks-and-benefits-of-dr-ai"},"modified":"2026-01-30T09:38:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:38:40","slug":"risks-and-benefits-of-dr-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/news\/risks-and-benefits-of-dr-ai","title":{"rendered":"Think twice before turning to Dr AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think twice before turning to Dr AI<\/h1>\n
\"Metro

Metro North Health Digital Metro North Director Dr Jason Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2025, more than half of Australians used generative AI platforms in their daily lives, with many using tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to self-diagnose medical conditions.<\/h4>\n

While there are many benefits to using AI, it is never a replacement for professional medical advice and there are some key considerations people must be aware of before turning to Dr AI.<\/p>\n

Metro North Chief Digital Health Officer Dr Jason Brown said bias is one of the key risks when using AI to self-diagnose health conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI models are trained on historic data, which may under or over present different race and demographic groups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answers people are receiving can therefore be skewed and inaccurate, and these incorrect answers will continue to be propagated on a large scale due to limited or non-existent human oversight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is also a lack of regulation of AI platforms and most services do not go through standard TGA\/FDA processes, mainly due to a regulation lag where innovation outpaces regulatory frameworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many years, Google has been the go-to online platform for people to source health advice, but with the rise of AI, Dr Brown said there are some considerations people need to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoogle encourages critical thinking due to a mix of results that requires people to evaluate and cross-reference them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cConversely, AI often delivers a confident, authoritative response which mimics an experienced professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are more likely to act on AI suggestions without verification, potentially resulting in delays to treatment or harmful self-treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, people should use caution if choosing to upload medical test results to an AI platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce data has been uploaded to AI, it can be assumed that it is no longer private,\u201d Dr Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe metadata contained in results may be used to expose personal data to potentially bad cyber actors, putting individuals at risk of having their identify stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend to say, never upload anything unless you would be happy to have it displayed on a public billboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all things considered, Dr Brown said with the right knowledge, AI can be a valuable tool in the health space.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI can be a great place to start if you are experiencing health concerns. It can provide education on non-urgent symptoms and help you prepare for appointments by providing examples of questions to ask your doctor or health professional,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust ensure you are using reputable tools and are aware of the limitations and bias.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metro North Chief Digital Health Officer Dr Jason Brown weighs in on risks and benefits of using Dr AI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":5156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-metro-north-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5157,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions\/5157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}