Better than the vet: ChatGPT helps dogs
The vet can't help Sassy any further. The poor dog is getting worse and worse. The owner turns to artificial intelligence and it promptly delivers the right prognosis.
If the pet is ill, there is sheer horror. No one can stand suffering dog eyes - and when not even the vet can help, the world of pet owners comes to a standstill.
This must have been exactly what happened to Sassy's owner recently. But in sheer desperation, he still knew what to do: He asked ChatGPT for advice. In a thread, Twitter user @peakcooper describes what happened to his dog and ChatGPT.
Source: Screenshot Twitter.
Dog suffering and the vet doesn't know what to do
First, the border collie suffers from anaemia - caused by a tick bite that transmits the disease babesiosis. The treatment prescribed by the vet does not work. After a few days, the dog is dog sick again.
The poor animal is taken to the vet for the second time. The same diagnosis again: anaemia. However, the treatment still had no effect. Further tests for tick-related diseases also came back negative. The vet doesn't know what to do. He advises to wait and see.
This is too much for Sassy's owner. He cannot stand idly by and watch his dog suffer. So the tech-savvy owner asks the now fourth version of ChatGPT for help.
ChatGPT-4: "I'm not a vet"
"In the meantime, it occurred to me that medical diagnostics is something that ChatGPT could be very well suited for. So I described the situation to the AI in detail," writes Peakcooper in the thread. The artificial intelligence initially responds with a disclaimer: "I'm not a vet". Then it continues: "But I can try to help you."
First, he describes to the chatbot that the dog's blood values changed a little between the tests. ChatGPT then realises that the anaemia could have causes other than the tick bite. And so the artificial intelligence provides a list of several other diseases that could apply to the specified values.
Source: Screenshot Twitter.
The dog owner can use this to determine, after the exclusion procedure and together with the diseases already tested by the vet: The dog has immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA).
Once again at the vet, Sassy was specifically tested for this diagnosis. And lo and behold, ChatGPT was right. The exciting thing is that the previous version, GPT-3.5, could not make the diagnosis, but GPT-4 could.
In the meantime, Sassy is receiving the appropriate veterinary treatment. She is now almost fit again and hopefully feeling great. Her owner Cooper wrote on Twitter: "I can't imagine what medical diagnostics will look like in 20 years' time."
Cover photo: @peakcooper / Twitter
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.