Man Hospitalized After AI-Recommended Salt Substitute

A 60-year-old man recently spent three weeks in a hospital due to replacing his usual table salt with sodium bromide—after consulting the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

This intriguing case was reported by three doctors in the Annals of Internal Medicine earlier this month. When he arrived, the man had no known psychiatric issues but expressed fears that his neighbor was poisoning him.

He mentioned that he had been distilling water at home and seemed unusually “paranoid” about any water given to him. Following lab tests and guidance from poison control, healthcare providers suspected bromism, which refers to elevated bromide levels.

According to the case report, within the first day after admission, his paranoia heightened, and he began experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations. After trying to leave, he was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold, deemed gravely disabled.

Once his health stabilized, he explained that he had embarked on a “personal experiment” to avoid table salt after reading about its potential health downsides, which he claimed prompted the switch to bromide, guided by his interactions with ChatGPT.

He reported that this replacement strategy lasted for about three months.

The attending doctors, affiliated with the University of Washington, acknowledged that they couldn’t access the patient’s ChatGPT discussions. However, they asked the bot themselves what might replace chloride in their own inquiry.

The report noted that bromide was among the responses they received. Interestingly, while the bot mentioned that context is important, it failed to issue a specific health warning or ask why they sought that information, something one would expect from a healthcare professional.

An OpenAI representative, the company behind ChatGPT, did not provide immediate feedback when asked for comment. The company did, however, remind users that their terms state the AI shouldn’t be used for health treatment.

They also highlighted that there are safety measures in place aimed at minimizing risks, emphasizing the importance of consulting with professionals.

Bromide toxicity was a more frequent concern in the early 1900s, as it was found in various over-the-counter drugs and sedatives, contributing to about 8% of psychiatric admissions back then.

Now, bromide salt is primarily used in veterinary medicine for treating epilepsy in pets, as per the National Library of Medicine.

Though it’s a rare issue today, the report suggested it has started to resurface as bromide products become more accessible via the internet.