Episode 118: When AI Gets It Wrong – The Risks of Healthcare Chatbots with Dr. Christie Bergerson

About this episode

This episode discusses the risks associated with AI chatbots in healthcare, featuring insights from Dr. Christie Bergerson.

Dear listeners, In this episode of the Primary Medicine Podcast, we take a closer look at the growing role of AI chatbots in healthcare—and the risks that come with them. Dr. Christie Bergerson, biomedical engineer and AI expert at ECRI, joins us to unpack how tools like ChatGPT are being used by both patients and clinicians. From drafting clinical notes to answering medical questions, these technologies are already shaping care in meaningful ways—but not always safely. We explore why AI chatbots can be particularly risky in healthcare, including their tendency to sound confident even when they’re wrong, and how that differs from traditional clinical decision support tools. Dr. Bergerson also discusses the rise of patients turning to AI for medical advice, the potential impact on patient safety, and where clinicians should draw the line when using these tools in practice. The conversation also dives into regulation, highlighting the important differences between general-purpose AI tools and regulated medical devices, and why that distinction matters. Dr. Bergerson shares real-world examples of misuse, the role of bias in AI systems, and what healthcare organizations need to…

People in this episode

Host: Dimitre

Guest: Dr. Christie Bergerson

Topics covered

• AI in healthcare
• risks of healthcare chatbots
• patient safety
• clinical decision support
• regulation of medical devices

Keywords

• AI chatbots
• patient advice
• clinical notes
• medical questions
• bias in AI systems

Mentioned in this episode

Products: ChatGPT

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