Illustration composite by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
It’s the kind of story that feel-good dramas are made of: A determined mother doggedly searches for the reason behind her young son’s mysterious chronic pain. The medical issue even eludes the 17 doctors that she brings her son to, so that’s when she takes matters into her own hands by turning to a popular—and controversial—piece of emerging technology: OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
After inputting his symptoms and medical data into the chatbot, she finds out that her son might be suffering from something called “tethered cord syndrome.” It’s a disorder that occurs when the spinal cord becomes wrongly attached to the spinal column—causing great pain and a host of other neurological issues. Her suspicions are confirmed when she brings this information to her son’s doctor, who diagnoses the disorder allowing the family to schedule surgery to fix the issue.
In effect: ChatGPT saved her son from his debilitating chronic pain.