How ChatGPT Helped One Couple Investigate Unexplained Infertility

Summary

In this guest essay, Drew Housman describes how he and his wife used ChatGPT during a six-year struggle with unexplained infertility. After GPT-4 was prompted to act like a dramatic television doctor called Dr. Reid, they asked it about scans, hormone levels, follicle counts, inflammation, procedures, supplements, and surgeon recommendations. They checked its answers with human doctors, who generally agreed, while acknowledging occasional mistakes, including a false claim that an ultrasound showed a pregnancy, and occasional refusals caused by OpenAI’s rules. The key turning point came when ChatGPT suggested an MRI of the uterus, a test the couple had not received despite years of scans, tests, and biopsies. Their fertility doctor initially tried to dissuade them, but eventually ordered it. The MRI found a previously undetected six-centimeter submucosal fibroid in the uterine wall, which was removed through laparoscopic myomectomy. The author says his wife became pregnant naturally soon afterward. He presents the experience as evidence that AI can help ordinary people navigate time-limited medical care and ask overlooked questions, while still recognizing the technology’s errors and the need for human medical oversight. The essay also argues that public criticism of AI should not obscure these potentially consequential personal benefits.