Commentary
But knowing what to do next is a conversation best had with your doctor, says this professor.
Making a correct diagnosis is only half a doctor’s job. (Photo: iStock/BongkarnThanyakij)
28 Jun 2026 06:00AM
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia: A father is worried about his toddler, who has been running a fever for two days and pulling at one ear. A 65-year-old woman has been getting winded on her morning walks and feeling more fatigued than usual. Both reach for their phones and type their symptoms into an AI chatbot.“Your child likely has an ear infection,” the father learns. “Your symptoms could indicate a cardiac condition,” the woman reads.Those are helpful answers - and there’s a good chance they’re correct. Artificial intelligence is approaching, and in some cases exceeding, doctors’ ability to make accurate diagnoses.An April 2026 study found OpenAI’s o1 model had a 78 per cent accuracy rate on complex diagnostic cases published in the New England Journal of Medicine and also outperformed experienced doctors when diagnosing actual emergency room patients.
