Google AI diagnosis in Lancet: conversation alone nails final diagnosis in 90% of cases
zakkohane · x · 2026-10-14
A thread on Google's new Lancet result: 98 real urgent-care patients texted with Google's AI days before their appointment — no scans, exams or bloodwork — and the correct final diagnosis landed on the AI's list 90% of the time.
- Doctors interrupt patients 11 seconds in (timed in a 2018 study); the AI has time for an unhurried history-taking conversation.
- Physician zakkohane amplified it: clinical medicine's first lesson is that patient history is the most important information, and AI can elicit a more detailed history.
- The thread cites a 1975 BMJ study: in 82% of cases the history, not the exam or labs, produced the right diagnosis.
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