> Physicians use all their senses. They poke, they prod, they manipulate, they look, listen, and smell.

Sometimes. Sometimes they practice by text or phone.

> They’re also good at extracting information in a way that (at least currently) sycophantic LLMs don’t replicate.

If I had to guess, I think I'd guess that mainstream LLM chatbots are better at getting honest and applicable medical histories than most doctors. People are less likely to lie/hide/prevaricate and get more time with the person.

> Sometimes. Sometimes they practice by text or phone.

For very simple issues. For anything even remotely complicated, they’re going to have you come in.

> If I had to guess, I think I'd guess that mainstream LLM chatbots are better at getting honest and applicable medical histories than most doctors. People are less likely to lie/hide/prevaricate and get more time with the person.

It’s not just about being intentionally deceptive. It’s very easy to get chat bots to tell you what you want to hear.