There’s no scarcity of issues you are able to do with ChatGPT, and the listing appears to develop each week. The LLM-based chatbot may also help you draft a price range, plan weekly meals, keep on monitor with well being objectives and make writing or coding simpler.But that does not imply it’s best to depend on it for all the pieces. ChatGPT has loads of limits, and in some circumstances, it will probably really trigger extra issues than it solves.The device tends to “hallucinate,” which means it generates inaccurate info and presents it as truth. It additionally does not at all times have essentially the most up-to-date data, which might make its solutions deceptive when you’re asking about present occasions or quickly altering matters. That issues the upper the stakes get, like when taxes, medical payments, courtroom dates or financial institution balances enter the chat. If you are not sure about when turning to ChatGPT may be dangerous, listed below are 11 eventualities when it’s best to put down the AI and select another choice. Don’t use ChatGPT for any of the next.Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content material and lab-based critiques. Add us as a most popular Google supply on Chrome.(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the father or mother firm of CNET, in April filed a lawsuit in opposition to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.)1. Diagnosing bodily well being pointsI’ve positively fed ChatGPT my signs out of curiosity, however the solutions that come again can learn like your worst nightmare. As you pore over potential diagnoses, you may swing from dehydration and the flu to some kind of most cancers. I’ve a lump on my chest and entered that info into ChatGPT. Lo and behold, it instructed me I could have most cancers. In truth, I’ve a lipoma, which isn’t cancerous and happens in 1 in each 1,000 individuals. My licensed physician instructed me that.I’m not saying there aren’t any good makes use of of ChatGPT for well being: It may also help you draft questions to your subsequent appointment, translate medical jargon and arrange a symptom timeline so you possibly can stroll in higher ready. And that might assist make physician visits much less overwhelming. However, AI cannot order labs or study you, and it positively does not carry malpractice insurance coverage. Know its limits.2. Taking care of your psychological healthChatGPT can supply grounding strategies, positive, however it will probably’t decide up the cellphone once you’re in actual hassle together with your psychological well being. I do know some individuals use ChatGPT instead therapist. CNET’s Corin Cesaric discovered it mildly useful for working via grief, so long as she stored its limits entrance of thoughts. But as somebody who has a really actual, very human therapist, I can inform you that ChatGPT continues to be actually solely a pale imitation at finest, and extremely dangerous at worst.ChatpGPT does not have lived expertise, cannot learn your physique language or tone, and has zero capability for real empathy. It can solely simulate it. A licensed therapist operates underneath authorized mandates {and professional} codes that shield you from hurt. ChatGPT does not. Its recommendation can misfire, overlook purple flags or unintentionally reinforce biases baked into its coaching knowledge. Leave the deeper work — the onerous, messy, human work — to an precise human who’s educated to correctly deal with it. If you or somebody you’re keen on is in disaster, please dial 988 within the US, or your native hotline.3. Making speedy security choicesIf your carbon-monoxide alarm begins chirping, please do not open ChatGPT and ask it when you’re in actual hazard. I’d go outdoors first and ask questions later. Large language fashions cannot scent gasoline, detect smoke or dispatch an emergency crew. In a disaster, each second you spend typing is a second you are not evacuating or dialing 911. ChatGPT can solely work with the scraps of information you feed it, and in an emergency, it could be too little and too late. So deal with your chatbot as a postincident explainer, by no means a primary responder.4. Getting personalised monetary or tax planningChatGPT can clarify what an ETF is, however it does not know your debt-to-income ratio, state tax bracket, submitting standing, deductions, retirement objectives or threat urge for food. Because its coaching knowledge might cease quick of the present tax 12 months, and of the newest price hikes, its steering might be stale once you hit enter.I’ve pals who dump their 1099 totals into ChatGPT for a DIY return. The chatbot merely cannot exchange a CPA who can catch a hidden deduction value a number of hundred {dollars} or flag a mistake that might price you hundreds. When actual cash, submitting deadlines, and IRS penalties are on the road, name an expert, not AI. Also, bear in mind that something you share with an AI chatbot will most likely develop into a part of its coaching knowledge, and that features your revenue, your Social Security quantity and your financial institution routing info.5. Dealing with confidential or regulated knowledgeAs a tech journalist, I see embargoes land in my inbox day by day, however I’ve by no means thought of tossing any of those press releases into ChatGPT to get a abstract or additional clarification. That’s as a result of if I did, that textual content would depart my management and land on a third-party server outdoors the guardrails of my nondiscloure settlement.The similar threat applies to consumer contracts, medical charts or something lined by the California Consumer Privacy Act, HIPAA, the GDPR or plain previous trade-secret legislation. It applies to your revenue taxes, beginning certificates, driver’s license and passport. Once delicate info is within the immediate window, you possibly can’t assure the place it is saved, who can evaluate it internally or whether or not it could be used to coach future fashions. ChatGPT additionally is not proof against hackers and safety threats. If you would not paste it right into a public Slack channel, do not paste it into ChatGPT.6. Doing something illegalThis one is self-explanatory.7. Cheating on schoolworkI’d be mendacity if I stated I by no means cheated on my exams. In highschool, I used my first-generation iPod Touch to sneak a peek at a number of cumbersome equations I had issue memorizing in AP calculus, a stunt I’m not notably happy with. But with AI, the size of contemporary dishonest makes that look remarkably tame.Turnitin and related detectors are getting higher at recognizing AI-generated prose each semester, and professors can already hear “ChatGPT voice” a mile away (thanks for ruining my beloved em sprint). Suspension, expulsion and getting your license revoked are actual dangers. It’s finest to make use of ChatGPT as a research buddy, not a ghostwriter. You’re additionally simply dishonest your self out of an schooling when you’ve got ChatGPT do the be just right for you.8. Monitoring info and breaking newsSince OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Search in late 2024 (and opened it to everybody in February 2025), the chatbot can fetch contemporary net pages, inventory quotes, gasoline costs, sports activities scores and different real-time numbers the second you ask, full with clickable citations so you possibly can confirm the supply. However, it will not stream continuous updates by itself. Every refresh wants a brand new immediate, so when velocity is vital, reside knowledge feeds, official press releases, information websites, push alerts and streaming protection are nonetheless your finest wager.9. PlayingI’ve really had luck with ChatGPT and hitting a three-way parlay throughout the NCAA males’s basketball championship, however I’d by no means advocate it to anybody. I’ve seen ChatGPT hallucinate and supply incorrect info on participant statistics, misreported accidents and win-loss information. I solely cashed out as a result of I double-checked each declare in opposition to real-time odds, and even then I obtained fortunate. ChatGPT cannot see tomorrow’s field rating, so do not depend on it solely to get you that win.10. Drafting a will or different legally binding contractChatGPT is nice for breaking down fundamental ideas. If you need to know extra a few revocable residing belief, ask away. However, the second you ask it to draft precise authorized textual content, you are rolling the cube. Estate and family-law guidelines differ by state, and typically even by county, so skipping a witness signature or omitting the notarization clause can get your complete doc tossed. Rather, let ChatGPT provide help to construct a guidelines of questions to your lawyer, then pay that lawyer to show that guidelines right into a doc that stands up in courtroom.11. Making artThis is not an goal fact, simply my very own opinion, however I do not consider AI ought to be used to create artwork. I’m not anti-artifical intelligence by any means. I exploit ChatGPT for brainstorming new concepts and assist with my headlines, however that is supplementation, not substitution. By all means, use ChatGPT, however please do not use it to make artwork that you just then move off as your individual. It’s sort of gross.
