"Hello, this is Bing! I’m the new AI-powered chat mode of Microsoft Bing that can help you quickly get summarized answers and creative inspiration." That's the way the Microsoft Bing AI intro screen greets users who come to submit searches to it, hoping its advertised AI capability will provide superior answers.
about
Microsoft Bing AI in general:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/features/the-new-bing?form=mt00d8 Because my son has a Microsoft account, we have access on our home computer to this app. (I think that's what he told me, if I understood him). Anyway, we can activate it by clicking on "Chat" on our Bing homepage.
This displays the app's search screen, with immediately appearing search box, "Ask me anything!"
So, the other day I decided to ask it anything: that is, anything about
PCa.
The first question I typed into the search box was
when will prostate cancer be curedand after a few seconds MBAI replied:
"Prostate cancer is a complex disease and there is no cure yet. However, doctors can treat prostate cancer in several ways, depending on the cancer stage and other factors. Treatment can cure some cases. In other cases, people may live with cancer for years without it spreading or causing serious problems.Doctors can often cure early stage prostate cancer. Some doctors may define cancer as “cured” if a person has shown no signs of cancer for at least 5 years. The 5-year relative survival rate for local or regional prostate cancer is nearly 100%. If the cancer spreads to more distant parts of the body, such as the lungs, liver, or bones, the 5-year relative survival rate drops drastically. Therefore, early diagnosis increases the chances of successful treatment. I hope this helps." This was followed by a screen {accessed by pressing "Continue" at bottom of first screen) with photos of smiling uros next to their brief articles on such topics as "Can prostate cancer in its early stages be cured?"
These were then followed by other links, such as: What are the symptoms of prostate cancer? How is prostate cancer diagnosed? Are there any new treatments for prostate cancer? More photos of smiling uros next to their brief articles.
Clicking on any of these links displays a brief article-answer to the link's question, followed itself by further links.
So the answering process is a growing tree of links, expanding as each sub-branch is accessed.
I then asked the question
what is the cure for prostate cancerMBAI's answer:
"Prostate cancer is a complex disease and there is no cure yet. However, doctors can treat prostate cancer in several ways, depending on the cancer stage and other factors. Treatment can cure some cases. In other cases, people may live with cancer for years without it spreading or causing serious problems. Treatment options for prostate cancer include chemotherapy, medications to stop hormone activity, radiation therapy, and surgery. These can be used alone or in combinations to treat cancer. Usually, the treatment goal for prostate cancer is to try to cure the cancer and keep it from coming back. I hope this helps."Finally, and here's where it gets really interesting, I asked it:
what are the best online prostate cancer discussion forumsAnd the answer (and note especially the part of the answer below that I have boldfaced):
"There are many online support groups for prostate cancer patients and their families. Some of the most popular ones are:
HealthBoards: The HealthBoards community prides itself on peer support. It’s made up of thousands of people who post using anonymous usernames. The Prostate Message Board boasts nearly 2,500 threads. Topics range from hormone therapy side effects to supplement usage to information on specific doctors. There’s even a blog feature so you can journal your own experiences. Want to broaden your discussion? There are also two related boards — Cancer and Men’s Health — for talk about more generalized issues.
CyberKnife: Accuray Incorporated runs the Prostate Patient Forum on CyberKnife’s website. There aren’t any bells and whistles, but you’ll get much more than peer support while browsing the website. The group runs a number of clinical trials to provide non-surgical options for cancer. In fact, right now Accuray is recruiting participants for a clinical trial for early stage prostate cancer. CyberKnife itself is a radiosurgery system that provides less invasive surgeries for different types of cancer, as well as non-cancerous tumors. Treatment centers are located across the United States and beyond1.
The Cancer Forums: The Cancer Forums’ Prostate Cancer Forum is also for caregivers, family, and friends. You can make a public profile page so that other users can get to know you better. You can also gather a list of friends to make connecting with certain members more convenient. Don’t want to post something for everyone to see? Use the private messaging feature for added security.
CancerCompass: CancerCompass is an online community that provides support and information for cancer patients and their families. The Prostate Cancer Forum has over 10,000 members and over 100,000 posts.
American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society has an online community called Cancer Survivors Network where you can connect with other cancer survivors and caregivers.
Patient: Patient is an online platform that provides information and support for patients and their families. They have a Prostate Cancer Forum where you can connect with others who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
HealingWell: HealingWell is an online community that provides support and information for people living with chronic illnesses. They have a Prostate Cancer Forum where you can connect with others who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
MacMillan Online Community: This section of the forum is a place for anyone affected by prostate cancer to share experiences and ask questions.
I hope this helps!"Well! How about
that! This presumably objectively programmed AI app cites our forum HWPC as a prime web source for PCa information and support? There are several PCa discussion forums out there, but this app picks ours as one of the best? Wow!
Well, okay, that may be true. We here certainly agree that it is. But then a darker thought hit me. Could it be that this app, while I was interacting with it, maybe sneaked its way into my search history, saw the numerous visits to HWPC that I have made, and decided to list HWPC in its report to me as one of the best, just to "score points with me?" Hmmm ... I wonder ...
Or maybe I'm just being a bit cyberparanoid, and HWPC really was selected by the app as one of the best PCa discussion forums. I indeed hope that was what really happened!
Anyway, I did a little more playing around with MBAI, asking it more PCa-related questions, and saw that what it seems to do is pull together already known PCa facts that it considers to be relevant to the question put to it, and tries to formulate, as best it can, an answer that works.
But in terms of being an AI that can make a leap from some already known facts to a startling new and game-changing conclusion, it doesn't seem to be there yet.
But if it was pure AI that composed all of the above answering text, that has to be impressive. All the text reads like normal, human-generated text, no serious grammatical or semantic errors, just like what a real person might have done.
I suspect that if I had put the above questions to another AI app, the results would have been similar: correct answers, but ones that just reformulate existing facts, without really expanding on existing knowledge. And certainly not delivering any new bombshell answers.
Now if these AI apps can just tweak their programming to process all that PCa data into really significant answers, ones that really do answer the above questions, in new and dramatic ways, now wouldn't THAT be something?!?!?