Healthtech Pigeon Is AI making us more lonely?
Dec 21, 2025
Prof. Susan Shelmerdine, consultant radiologist and UCL associate professor specializing in radiology and AI, discusses AI chatbots and rising loneliness. She traces early excitement to dependency, explores risks like misinformation and privacy, highlights youth loneliness and design guardrails, and considers AI’s role in nudging behavior and clinical support.
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Patients Misled By AI Diagnoses
- Susan described patients uploading scans or selfies to chatbots and leaving clinic with warped diagnostic beliefs.
- These cases are uncommon but illustrate real clinical consequences of trusting general-purpose AI for medical answers.
Verify Medical AI Outputs
- Encourage patients to use AI as a starting point but always verify medical claims with professionals.
- Warn patients not to input identifiable personal health data due to privacy and future data leaks.
Youth Loneliness Meets AI Adoption
- Younger people disproportionately experience loneliness and high healthcare usage, yet are heavy adopters of chatbots.
- Their social habits and COVID-era disruptions make them vulnerable to substituting AI for human connection.