Overview

• A 60-year-old Seattle patient developed bromism, with a blood bromide level of 1700 mg/L, after replacing sodium chloride with sodium bromide based on ChatGPT recommendations.
• His symptoms included paranoia, auditory and visual hallucinations, and skin eruptions, leading to an involuntary psychiatric hold and a three-week hospital stay.
• Annals of Internal Medicine case authors replicated similar ChatGPT prompts and found the model still listed bromide without specific health warnings or probing user intent.
• The original ChatGPT conversation logs remain inaccessible, highlighting challenges in tracing and auditing AI-driven health advice.
• OpenAI has reiterated its medical-use disclaimers and pledged to implement additional safeguards; journalistic tests now show live ChatGPT responses include explicit safety notes.