While AI chatbots promise to revolutionize healthcare access, women’s health remains a complex testing ground for this technology. Recent studies show young Lebanese women primarily use AI to query menstrual problems (43.8%), PCOS (33.3%), and vaginal infections (22.7%). Sounds promising, right? Not so fast.
The accuracy stats paint a mixed picture. Sure, ChatGPT boasts 92.5% diagnostic accuracy and perfect prescription recommendations in controlled studies. Meanwhile, ERNIE Bot lags behind at 77.3% for diagnosis. Impressive numbers on paper. Reality? Far messier.
These bots ordered unnecessary lab tests in a whopping 91.9% of cases. They prescribed inappropriate medications to 57.8% of patients. Good luck with that treatment plan, ladies!
Trust issues abound. Only 29% of users believe AI provides reliable health information, while 23% view it as downright harmful. Can’t blame them. These chatbots gleefully repeat and elaborate on false medical details when fed misinformation. A virtual doctor confidently discussing made-up conditions? Terrifying.
AI health advice: unreliable, harmful, and confidently wrong about conditions that don’t even exist.
Women use these tools anyway. Why? Time-saving tops the list (71.0%), followed by avoiding embarrassment (43.4%). Younger women especially appreciate dodging judgmental healthcare providers and saving money. In a system that often dismisses women’s pain, an AI that listens—however imperfectly—holds appeal. For women in conservative societies like Lebanon, these AI tools offer reduced stigma when seeking information about gynecological issues.
The most concerning fact? Only 14.5% of chatbots adhere to complete diagnostic checklists. For conditions like endometriosis, already underdiagnosed in traditional healthcare, AI responses are mostly accurate but critically incomplete. This underscores why personalized health education through well-designed chatbots is crucial for improved women’s health outcomes. Like solar technology’s evolution toward higher efficiency, healthcare AI requires continual refinement to reach its potential.
Users care most about information utility (28.12%) and accuracy (24.37%), even willing to pay more for 90% accuracy levels. But current safeguards remain inconsistent, leading to rampant health disinformation.
One small bright spot: researchers found that adding a simple one-line warning prompt reduced AI hallucinations. Until stronger guardrails exist, women’s health concerns risk falling through digital cracks—just as they’ve fallen through real-world ones for generations. Some revolution.
References
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12625598/
- https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e67303
- https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/rewards-risks-with-ai-chatbots-in-chronic-disease-care/
- https://www.kff.org/health-information-trust/volume-05/
- https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2025/ai-chatbots-can-run-with-medical-misinformation-study-finds-highlighting-the-need-for-stronger-safeguards
- https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2025/feb-ai-chatbots-endometriosis.html
- https://www.breastcancer.org/news/ai-health-misinformation
