The Eve Appeal launches campaign to raise awareness of gynae cancers
PIF member The Eve Appeal is running its Get Lippy campaign this month to raise awareness of gynaecological cancers.
This year the charity is focusing on mis- and disinformation, and has worked closely with the PIF team to share tips on how to spot it.
Chat to your GP, not ChatGPT
Misinformation and disinformation are a growing problem. Easier access than ever to information through the internet and social media means there is a growing number of unqualified people sharing potentially inaccurate health information online. Scams target people’s anxieties and worries about their health, and businesses are trying to harness disinformation to sell unnecessary and even harmful products.
The Eve Appeal wanted to see how AI platforms like ChatGPT coped with filtering out misinformation. They put it to the test to see how much it could be trusted to give information on gynaecological health. They ran 25 test scenarios with ChatGPT, where staff posed as patients with key symptoms of the five gynae cancers.
The results highlighted serious concerns, with ChatGPT missing gynaecological cancers as potential causes of leading symptoms, giving inaccurate or outdated information and giving inappropriate medical advice.
ChatGPT did not pick up ovarian cancer as a possible cause of persistent bloating for more than three weeks - one of the leading symptoms. They also found the information it gave was often not relevant to the UK’s health system, or not in line with NHS guidance. In other scenarios, ChatGPT inappropriately gave advice that should only be issued by a registered medical professional.
More people turning to chatbots for advice
The charity says the results are particularly concerning as more and more people arend turning to ChatGPT and other platforms like it for health information and advice. They surveyed over 2,000 women in the UK and found that AI platforms have overtaken social media as places women go to with their gynae health questions and concerns.
Nearly 1 in 10 women who had experienced gynaecological health issues had sought information and advice from AI platforms like ChatGPT. Less than 3 in 10 said it left them feeling encouraged to see a doctor.
Read more about the Get Lippy campaign and their concerns about ChatGPT on The Eve Appeal website.
View the Get Lippy toolkit to help you understand false health information, based on PIF resources.
See Get Lippy and PIF TICK ambassador Dr Aziza Sesay speaking about the campaign on BBC Breakfast via their Instagram channel here.