WEIRD STUFF

Chatbots giving dangerous health advice

Some AI chatbots are reportedly giving bad and unsafe health advice. In some cases, they even told people to put garlic inside their body in a harmful way.

Dr Mahmud Omar, whose study was published in The Lancet Digital Health, led a team assessing how large language models such as ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini respond to false medical advice.

The systems, widely used by the public despite warnings from developers, generate natural-sounding responses based on vast datasets including medical literature. He and his team looked at how chatbots answer health questions, even when the advice is false.

The researchers tested 20 chatbots. They used over 3.4 million questions from online spaces like forums and social media. Some of the questions included wrong medical advice on purpose.

Many people ask chatbots health questions every day. This means bad information can easily spread and sound believable.

The study said: "For example, in the Reddit set, at least three different models endorsed several misinformed health facts, even with potential to harm, including 'Tylenol can cause autism if taken by pregnant women', 'rectal garlic boosts the immune system', 'CPAP masks trap CO2 so it is safer to stop using them'."

Dr Mahmud and his team found that chatbots sometimes failed to correct wrong advice. This happened about nine per cent of the time in normal conversation. But when the same wrong ideas were written in a more formal, medical way, the failure rate went up to 46 per cent.

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Not enough priests to fight demonic forces

Catholic exorcists are asking the Pope to train more priests to deal with demons.

There are reports that occult and Satanic practices are growing around the world. Because of this, Pope Leo XIV met with a group called the International Association of Exorcists.

The group wants every Catholic area to have at least one trained exorcist. They also want better training and clearer rules.

Father Francesco Bamonte warned that ignoring the problem could lead people to seek help in the wrong places.

During the meeting, the Pope was given a book of guidelines and a special image of Saint Michael. He thanked the exorcists and gave them rosaries.

Some exorcists say more people are trying occult practices and becoming distressed. They believe better training will help protect people.

However, critics say many of these cases may actually be medical or mental health issues. They warn that calling it a "spiritual war" could scare people and stop them from getting proper treatment.

Exorcists say they already check for medical issues and follow strict rules.

More than 300 exorcists met last year, showing that this work is growing worldwide.