[arendtio]

I don't think that this is a good idea. For medical applications, I can understand that LLMs are not the best solution, since they are so bad with numbers/probabilities. But for legal advice, I think they should be pretty good.

So the only reason I can think of to forbid such use cases is that people in those professions fear being replaced by machines.

[hermannj314]

Preventable medical errors kill 250,000 American every year, I can imagine LLMs could be both good and bad for that number, but on net, it is hard to say without just guessing. But if you ban the application of LLMs to medical care, you close that door before even seeing the potential on the other side. I think that is absurd.

[jlarocco]

I don't think that conclusion really follows because I don't think the ban works that way.

There's a big difference between ChatGPT writing a prescription and a doctor double checking his diagnosis using some kind of Claude code for medicine. ChatGPT writing prescriptions and giving medical device directly to people should absolutely be prohibited for now, but the second approach should be encouraged.

[jmye]

> it is hard to say without just guessing

It really isn’t. How many surgeries do you think LLMs perform? How many of those medical errors would’ve been resolved by a chatbot? It’s easy to quote a big scary number and pretend like it has some vague relevance when you don’t actually understand the problem space.

[hermannj314]

Ok, so how many deaths from medicals errors have been caused by and prevented through the use of LLMs (since you say it isn't hard). Can you enlighten us and not leave us guessing?

I understand many deaths due to medical errors are caused by patients misunderstanding the advice they are given. You are saying you know exactly the net value of LLMs in this problem space?

[jmye]

> Ok, so how many deaths from medicals errors have been caused by and prevented through the use of LLMs (since you say it isn't hard).

I'm thoroughly disinterested in doing your homework for you. If you don't know how to answer that question, you shouldn't be opining in that space about things you clearly don't know anything about. It's that simple.

> Can you enlighten us and not leave us guessing?

You made the argument, you back it up. This is middle school shit. If you're not capable of understanding the subject matter, the best thing to do would be to stop asserting strident opinions about it as if you do, not be a smarmy jerk because someone called you on it.

> I understand many deaths due to medical errors are caused by patients misunderstanding the advice they are given.

Understand based on what, specifically? Many is a weasel word that people use to pretend that something happens frequently. What, specifically, do you mean by "medical error" in the first place? Do you know?