Mom of two credits ChatGPT with saving her life by helping detect cancer which doctors missed
A mother of two credits ChatGPT for saving her life, claiming the artificial intelligence chatbot flagged the condition leading to her cancer when doctors missed it.Lauren Bannon, who divides her time between North Carolina and the US Virgin Islands, first noticed in February 2024 that she was having trouble bending her fingers in the morning and evening, as reported by Kennedy News and Media.After four months, the 40-year-old was told by doctors that she had rheumatoid arthritis, despite testing negative for the condition.Bannon, who owns a marketing company, then began experiencing excruciating stomach pains and lost 14 pounds in just a month, which doctors blamed on acid reflux.Desperate to pinpoint the cause of her symptoms, Bannon turned to ChatGPT, the large-language model made by OpenAI.The chatbot told Bannon that she may have Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland, causing it to become inflamed and eventually underactive, according to Kennedy News and Media.Despite reservations from her doctor, Bannon insisted on being tested for the condition in September 2024 — and was shocked to discover that ChatGPT was correct, despite the absence of any family history.This prompted doctors to perform an ultrasound of Lauren’s thyroid, when they discovered two small lumps in her neck that were confirmed as cancer in October 2024.Bannon claims she would never have found the hidden cancer without the help of ChatGPT, which she credits for helping to save her life.“I felt let down by doctors,” said Bannon, as reported by Kennedy News and Media.“It was almost like they were just trying to give out medication for anything to get you in and out the door.”“I needed to find out what was happening to me, I just felt so desperate.
I just wasn’t getting the answers I needed.”Bannon said she had been using ChatGPT for work.When she asked the chatbot about which medical conditions mimi...