I will not use the health features of AI, for my own well-being. Here’s why

A few years ago, I thought I was going to die. And while (spoiler alert) I didn’t, my severe health anxiety and ability to always assume the worst has continued. But the growing proliferation of smart health-tracking devices and the new ways AI is trying to make sense of our body’s data has prompted me to make a decision. For my peace of mind, HE needs to stay out of my personal health. And after just watching Samsung’s Unpacked event, I’m more convinced of that than ever. I will explain.

Sometime around 2016, I had severe migraines that continued for several weeks. My anxiety increased significantly during this period due to the attendant’s concern and when I finally called the UK NHS helpline and explained my various symptoms, they told me I needed to go to the nearest hospital and see you within 2 hours. “Walk there with someone,” I distinctly remember them telling me, “It’ll be faster than an ambulance.”

This phone call confirmed my worst fear — that death was inevitable.

As it turned out, my fears of an early death were unfounded. The cause was actually severe muscle strain from hanging multiple heavy cameras around my neck for an entire day while photographing a wedding. But the helpline agent was simply working on the limited data I had provided, and as a result, they – perhaps quite rightly – took a “better safe than sorry” approach and urged me to seek immediate care medical.

I’ve spent most of my adult life struggling with health anxiety, and episodes like this one have taught me a lot about my ability to jump to the worst conclusions despite the lack of real evidence to back them up. support them. A ringing in my ears? It must be a brain tumor. A crunch in your stomach? Well, I better get my affairs in order.

I’ve learned to live with this over the years, and while I still have my ups and downs, I know better what triggers things. For one, I learned never to Google my symptoms. Because no matter what my symptom was, cancer was always one of the possibilities that a search would turn up. Medical sites — including the NHS’s own website — offered no comfort and usually only resulted in brain-wrecking panic attacks.

Sadly, I’ve found I have a similar response with many health trackers. I liked the Apple Watch at first, and its ability to read my heart rate during workouts was helpful. Then I realized I was checking it more and more often throughout the day. Then doubt crept in: “Why is my heart rate high when I’m sitting? Is it normal? I’ll try again in 5 minutes.” When, inevitably, it was no different (or was worse), panic would naturally ensue.

Whether I’m tracking my heart rate, blood oxygen levels, or even my sleep scores, I’d become fixated on what a “normal” range should be, and whenever my data fell outside that range, I’d immediately assume that to say that I will be ready to continue. there and then. The more data these devices provided, the more things I felt I needed to worry about. I’ve learned to keep my worries at bay and continue to use smartwatches, not much of a problem for my mental health (I have to not actively use any heart-related functions like EKG), but AI-based health tools with scare

During the Unpacked keynote, Samsung talked about how its new Galaxy AI tools — and Google’s Gemini AI — are supposed to help us in our daily lives. Samsung Health algorithms will track your heart rate as it fluctuates throughout the day, notifying you of changes. It will provide personalized insights from your diet and exercise to help with cardiovascular health, and you can even ask the AI ​​agent questions about your health.

To many it may sound like a great comprehensive picture of your health, but not to me. To me it sounds like more data being collected and waved in front of me, forcing me to accept it and creating an endless feedback loop of obsession, worry and, inevitably, panic. But it’s the AI ​​questions that are the biggest red flag for me. AI tools by their very nature must make “best guess” answers usually based on publicly available information on the Internet. Asking the AI ​​a question is really just a quick way to do a Google search, and as I’ve found, health queries on Google don’t end well for me.

Like the NHS operator who inadvertently caused me to panic about dying, an AI-based health assistant will be able to provide answers based only on the limited information it has about me. Asking a question about the health of my heart can bring up a variety of information, just as looking on a health website would about why I have a headache. But much like a headache can technically a symptom of cancer, it’s also more likely to be a muscle spasm. Or I didn’t drink enough water. Or I need to step away from my screen for a bit. Or I shouldn’t have stayed up until 2am playing Yakuza: Infinite Wealth. Or a hundred other reasons, all of which are far more likely than what I’ve already decided is definitely the culprit.

But will an AI give me the context I need to stop worrying and obsessing? Or will he just provide for me all of them potentials as a way of trying to make full sense but instead nurture that “what if” worry? And, like Google’s AI summaries told people to eat pizza stickers, an AI health tool will simply scour the internet and give me a hashed answer, with imprecise conclusions that could send my anxiety back into territory. full blown panic attack?

Or perhaps, like the kindly doctor at the hospital that day, who smiled gently at the weeping man across from him, who had already composed a farewell note to his family on his waiting room phone, a means of HE might be able to see it. data and just say, “You’re fine Andy, don’t worry and go to sleep.”

Maybe one day it will be like that. Perhaps health tracking tools and AI insights will be able to provide me with a much-needed dose of logic and reassurance to counteract my anxiety, rather than being the cause of it. But until then, it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.