At 81, Helen Mirren ‘totally’ avoids doctors and prefers AI instead - but what do GPs think?

Bumpy, itchy rash in heat. Medicine for dodgy tummy. Symptoms of Japanese encephalitis (teen daughter travelling with no vaccine). These are just some of the health searches I've made on ChatGPT over the past six weeks... and it turns out, I'm not the only one. One in seven people have used AI for health advice – including none other than the great Dame Helen Mirren.

During an Entertainment Weekly interview at the Toronto International Film Festival with A Talent For Murder co-star Alden Ehrenreich, the actor said: 'I ought to be diagnosed with the opposite of hypochondria. I just completely ignore everything.' She went on to say: 'I avoid doctors', and added: 'It’s working.'

Dame Helen plays famed crime novelist Patricia Highsmith in A Talent for Murder, starring alongside Alden. And when Alden joked if he 'could just have a doctor live in my house, I would be thrilled,' Helen replied: 'Well, you do. It’s called AI.'

'You know, AI is amazing,' she went on. 'Oh, it’s incredible.'

But what do the medical professionals think? Is it helpful to check symptoms on AI... or should we all be heading to our GP instead (if you don't mind long waits for doctors appointments and endless phone queues, that is)? 'It's easy to see the appeal – AI is instant, it's private and it never makes you feel silly for asking,' says country manager and UK medical director for Kry Dr Tom Davis. 'But it can't examine you, it doesn't know your history unless you tell it everything, every time, and it can sound confident even when it's wrong.'

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And GH's Sarah Jarvis adds: 'If you don’t know the precise relevance of each of your symptoms, that can cause major issues. AI is designed to sound authoritative, but there's a host of evidence that it can't distinguish between reliable and unproven or even false information available on the internet - and every doctor knows the internet is awash with this.

'Doctors regularly use AI: I should know, I'm one of them. But I only rely on bespoke tools, such as OpenEvidence, which only interrogate reliable medical literature. My bottom line? Until AI is a great deal more sophisticated, stick to reputable websites (NHS website, patient.info etc) to do your search.'

'AI can be a brilliant first step and a poor last one,' adds Dr Davis. 'The moment a symptom feels serious, that's the moment to see a real doctor – human or via video, but human.'