In the United States, a 60-year-old man ended up in a psychiatric clinic after following ChatGPT's advice to completely eliminate table salt from his diet. The incident occurred in Seattle, where doctors at the University of Washington recorded a rare case of bromide poisoning caused by artificial intelligence recommendations, reports infohub.kz.
The patient, whose name has not been disclosed, decided to give up sodium chloride after learning about the potential harms of regular salt. Seeking an alternative, he turned to the neural network, which suggested replacing sodium chloride with sodium bromide. The man followed the advice and began taking this substance daily, which over three months led to the development of bromism—bromide poisoning that in the early 20th century caused psychotic episodes.
The patient was admitted to the hospital with severe paranoia, claiming that his neighbor was poisoning him. Soon he began experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations, and after attempting to flee the ward, he was temporarily isolated. Doctors restored his condition with electrolyte IVs and antipsychotic medications. After three weeks, the psychotic symptoms completely disappeared.
Medical professionals emphasize that artificial intelligence cannot replace a professional doctor and urge caution with recommendations obtained from AI. The case was described in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine Clinical Cases.