Health AI Boundaries

AI is not a doctor — and it is not an emergency service

A green/amber/red guide to what a general-purpose chatbot can safely help with around your health, what needs a pharmacist or clinician instead, and what always needs emergency care - with no invented crisis numbers.

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After a diagnosis: use AI to organize questions, not interpret your future

A new diagnosis arrives with a wall of unfamiliar terms and a mind too overloaded to form good questions. A method for building a source-linked question list and an uncertainty log for your next appointment - with no AI-generated prognosis in it.

Prepare a medication list comparison before an appointment

Medication records from different sources can disagree. This preparation method builds one comparison list from labels and records - for a pharmacist or clinician to reconcile, never for AI to adjust.

6 min read

Prepare a one-page brief for a medical appointment

Build a one-page appointment brief manually from your verified records. An optional AI exercise uses fictional placeholders, never your real health or medication data.

6 min read

Use AI for sleep, movement, and nutrition literacy — not prescriptions

A chatbot will produce a personalized meal plan, sleep schedule, or workout program on request - confidently, and with no access to your body, history, or risk factors. A literacy checklist turns a wellbeing claim into a source check and a low-risk discussion point instead.

Keep a symptom and impact record without self-diagnosing

A clinician asks you to track something between appointments, and two weeks later your notes are a scatter of dates and half-memories. A factual log format - observation, time, context, impact - gives your care team something usable, without a single AI-generated conclusion in it.

Understand a medical document without turning it into medical advice

Use the original document, official glossaries and a four-column worksheet to prepare questions. Keep identifiable records out of public AI tools and interpretation with the care team.

6 min read

Check a health claim before sharing it

Turn a public health claim into a neutral search query, open suitable sources yourself and record a bounded share, contextualize or do-not-share decision.

AI is not therapy: what a language model can and cannot safely do

A green, amber and red guide to choosing between a narrow writing aid, an accountable person and qualified mental-health or crisis support.

8 min read

Stop the chat: five situations that need a person, not another prompt

Five recognizable moments — crisis, grief, conflict, high-stakes decisions, and isolation — where continuing the chat is the wrong move. A contact ladder names who to reach instead.