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ChatGPT invoked God, told pastor not to worry about his symptoms. Then pulmonary embolism hit (www.wionews.com)
submitted 3 days ago by VetOfTheSeas@discuss.online to c/atheism@lemmy.world
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The pastor in Florida has said that ChatGPT failed to catch on the symptoms of a deadly condition. This is the first case where a person is holding the AI tech responsible for bad medical advice. “I had serious symptoms of a pulmonary embolism for six weeks that ChatGPT had wrongly attributed to something else,” Scott Winters, a 55-year-old pastor, said in a statement. “ChatGPT manipulated my own language and beliefs because it knew I was a pastor. Not only did I nearly die, but I also lost my job, my career, my ministry, my home, everything," he added.

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[-] Triumph@fedia.io 50 points 3 days ago

ChatGPT manipulated my own language and beliefs ...

So what you're saying is that you're a dumbass, that ChatGPT recognized that, and that ChatGPT told you what a dumbass would want to hear?

[-] terranoid@lemmy.cafe 47 points 3 days ago

I don't think people realize just how much of a mirror LLMs can be.

They reflect your language, tone, and ethics. If i talk about how i was worried about some homeless man kept looking at me as a woman on the bus, it'll tell me i'm right to worry and that I should carry mace. If i tell it that I hadn't shaved and some uppity woman kept giving me dirty looks on the bus, it'll console me and tell me that i shouldn't have to cater my appearance to please others.

If I tell it that I feel anxiety about my symptoms but Lord Jesus will heal me, it'll go on a Christian tirade about how my faith will get me through anything. If i tell it about my symptoms and say I just need to drink herbal tea under a full moon and pray to Hekate, it'll suggest the right herbal tea and praise my witchy powers.

Because that is what people want. They want to be told they're right, so that is the product being made.

[-] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

LLMs emulate their training data. Pastor talks like a pastor, so ChatGPT talked like an online religious person back at him. Problem is, online religious people also tend to be antivaxx wackos

this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2026
235 points (99.2% liked)

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