Psychology's Misdiagnosis Problem

"As a college professor, I watched ChatGPT undermine students' ability to distinguish between reputable and dubious sources. As a consumer, I want live customer service agents who understand me as a human being. All that said, AI is really good at some tasks we humans struggle with-especially complex tasks requiring us to synthesize and weigh information from multiple sources before making our decisions-the very skills needed for precise diagnosis."

"Precise diagnosis requires us to thoroughly assess and weigh dozens of symptoms, many spanning several disorders, all in the contexts of family history, life circumstances, and past life events. Our brains aren't built for this, but AI is, and it matters. Mistaken diagnoses, which we often stick with once they're made, cause treatment delays, use of poorly matched treatments, and, for some, real harm."

Psychological misdiagnosis is common, often unnoticed, and can produce severe or life-threatening consequences. Human diagnostic judgments suffer from cognitive biases and limited capacity to integrate many symptoms, histories, and contextual factors. Desktop computers outperformed clinicians decades ago, and modern AI further amplifies diagnostic accuracy by synthesizing diverse data and weighing competing indicators. Accurate diagnosis demands evaluating dozens of symptoms across disorders within family, life, and event contexts—tasks poorly suited to human brains but well-suited to AI. Misdiagnoses frequently persist, delaying appropriate treatment and exposing patients to poorly matched interventions and harm. Cultural resistance among clinicians to computerized diagnosis must be overcome to realize AI benefits.

Read at Psychology Today