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CHAT-PCP

American patients are increasingly turning to AI for medical advice — so are their doctors

As OpenAI announces the launch of ChatGPT Health, it seems everyday Americans and professional physicians alike are already using the tech to help with healthcare.

Millie Giles

1/9/26 5:57AM

With the world weighing up the pitfalls of giving AI access to sensitive personal data, OpenAI just unveiled a service where people can upload medical records directly to its chatbot.

On Wednesday, the company announced the launch of ChatGPT Health, described as a “dedicated experience” for health information that will live as a tab within ChatGPT. According to a report from OpenAI, more than 40 million people globally already ask ChatGPT health-related questions every single day, equating to about 5% of all messages on the platform.

Chat, what are my treatment options?

The service, designed to help people “feel more informed, prepared, and confident navigating [their] health,” allows users in the US to connect medical records and data from apps and wearable devices to ChatGPT.

OpenAI underscored that Health is built with additional, layered protections for user information, including “purpose-built encryption.” It also emphasized that the service is “not intended for diagnosis or treatment,” and should instead be used to “support” existing medical care.

But it seems that AI is already being used to support medical professionals, even more directly. A study conducted by the American Medical Association in November 2024, published last February, found that two-thirds of American physicians reported using health AI at least once in 2024, up from 38% in 2023.

Just what the doctor prompted

While many medical professionals said they were already using the tech for documentation purposes and translation services, a significant proportion also reported using AI for help with treatment, including surgery guidance (30%), prediction of health risks (25%), health recommendations (21%), and triage support (20%).

Interestingly, the AMA found 30% of US physicians said they used AI to assist with diagnoses — the same thing that many turn to ChatGPT for, with OpenAI’s report finding that 55% of US adults used AI tools to “check or explore symptoms” in the three months prior to the survey.

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Prediction markets have, predictably, been given a boost by the summer of sports

Major platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have seen huge upticks in users of late, thanks in no small part to what’s felt like a recent sporting smorgasbord, with major competitions across hockey, basketball, and soccer soaking up fans’ time (and spending, clearly) at the outset of summer.

While gaming industry groups may not like it, there’s been a huge change in the methods people are using to put money on the big games, with everyone from fortunate NYC bar owners, to a far less fortunate Spanish supporter, turning to prediction markets to try and turn their sports know-how into cold, hard cash.

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

2026 World Cup Reverses Seasonal Lull for Sports Betting Apps

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

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Anthropic pulls Fable and Mythos access worldwide after Trump administration bars their use by foreign nationals

Only days after releasing two versions of its next-gen AI model, Anthropic has disabled them for users worldwide.

Anthropic says it received a Friday night order from the Trump administration to suspend access to the models for any foreign national (anywhere in the world) — a group that included some Anthropic employees. In response, the company turned off access to everyone.

Last week, the company released to the public its much-anticipated Claude Fable 5 model (and its restricted version Claude Mythos 5, which is still being tested with trusted partners). Anthropic said in a blog post announcing the action that officials cited national security concerns with the new models, while offering few specific details.

The post said that the government gave the company “verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak” of the public Fable 5 model. A jailbreak is a means by which users can evade restrictions built into the code to unlock prohibited functionality. Anthropic downplayed the significance of the attack, and said other major models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.5, could also be affected by the technique described.

Fears of these first Mythos-class models being misused are running high, after Anthropic warned the cybersecurity world in May that the advanced cyber capabilities of Mythos have rapidly discovered thousands of vulnerabilities in ubiquitous software, leading to the decision to restrict the full version of the model to a close group of trusted partners for testing.

This morning, Axios reported that Anthropic technical staff have flown to Washington to meet with White House officials to resolve the issue.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Trump administration’s decision to take action against Anthropic was prompted by discussions that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had with officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to the report, Amazon researchers said they had been able to evade some of Fable 5’s security restrictions using specific prompts. Amazon is a major investor in Anthropic.

Anthropic is currently suing the US government to fight the Pentagon’s blacklisting of the company on national security grounds.

Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5