I had a health concern pop-up unexpectedly in the midst of our snowpacalypse this weekend. I won’t get into the specific details. I refuse to become another old person who talks about their health problems all the time. Let’s just say that I never had this issue before and wasn’t sure how to handle it.
Besides, this post isn’t about my health, it’s about AI.
My first action was to use Google search AI. As I read through the responses I asked google AI for more clarification. The more I asked, the more helpful it became. I read through studies from the NIH and NHS, potential causes of my problem, what to do immediately and when/if I should seek medical help.
Then, because I wanted to dig deeper, I tried Perplexity. It was freaking awesome. Perplexity builds a profile and history with me over the course of my inquiry. It remembers my age, my diet, my activities, my fitness levels, references earlier questions, etc. I was able to ask direct questions specific to my situation. It used my profile and these drill-down questions to provide me with action items, possible concerns and feedback tailored to my personal situation. What was most helpful was how it helped me frame what was happening and why – not generically, but why specifically to me. I was a bit freaked out by the health incident and asked follow up questions I would ask a doctor like: Could this have been happening before but I didn’t notice? Might this be a lifelong allergic reaction that was “hidden” to me because I’d never associated the cause/effect before? Is this due to something I’ve done? Or because I’m older?
As I read through the supporting materials linked behind the response each answer proved to be thoughtful, specific and appropriate. My concerns were alleviated, even though my issue was going to take days or weeks to resolve.
Towards the end of this communication I asked bigger existential questions and expressed concerns that I hadn’t discussed with a human yet just to see how Perplexity would handle them.
- Am I falling apart? My shoulder problem, an increasing susceptibility to chronic injuries, two hernias a few years ago and now this. Is this what I should expect going forward?
- Am I pushing myself too hard? Are my diet and workouts actually making things worse?
- Am I doing something wrong? Are my expectations for myself and my health unrealistic?
- I’m thinking about making these changes – do they make sense?
- Am I becoming an overly self-obsessed hypochondriac? Am I losing my mind?
- Is this just aging? Am I being unrealistic with my expectations of myself now that I’m approaching 60?
I was blown away by the responses. It was as if I was having a thoughtful, nuanced conversation with a good therapist or doctor.
It referred to things we had been “discussing”. Its responses were personal and specific to my situation vs generic WebMD type responses I would normally see via Google. By the time I had finished, I was having in an in-depth exchange working through multiple thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head for a while.
An example was a discussion of why I was changing my workouts, my thoughts/concerns about cutting back, what it means to me, references to the unique workout I created and how this was impacting me emotionally, as well as physically.
A year ago, I was underwhelmed by AI.
That has changed. I am somewhat excited to see what comes next. It is reminding me a bit of the excitement I felt when I first got online in the mid 90s and had a glimpse of what the Internet could do.
I kind of like it.