Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Have you ever turned to an artificial intelligence chatbot for medical advice? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman speaks with researcher Almira Osmanovic Thunström about an experiment in which she created “bixonimania,” a fake disease that AI chatbots easily absorbed and repeated to users. The experiment reveals the pitfalls of using AI to interpret medical results—a habit that’s becoming increasingly common these days.
0:00 Introduction
0:21 The Fake Disease: Bixonimania
2:01 How the Experiment Came About
3:36 Planting the Misinformation
5:01 How AI Models Spread the Fake Condition
7:25 The Obvious Clues Nobody Caught
9:15 The Paper Gets Cited
10:04 Lessons About AI Medical Advice
12:32 Outro
Recommended Reading:
“Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real,” by Chris Stokel-Walker, in Nature. Published online April 7, 2026
nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y
A third of Americans say they’ve asked AI to decode their medical results
scientificamerican.com/article/asking-ai-to-explain-your-medical-results-what-doctors-want-you-to-know
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: scientificamerican.com/getsciam
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
Have you ever turned to an artificial intelligence chatbot for medical advice? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman speaks with researcher Almira Osmanovic Thunström about an experiment in which she created “bixonimania,” a fake disease that AI chatbots easily absorbed and repeated to users. The experiment reveals the pitfalls of using AI to interpret medical results—a habit that’s becoming increasingly common these days.
0:00 Introduction
0:21 The Fake Disease: Bixonimania
2:01 How the Experiment Came About
3:36 Planting the Misinformation
5:01 How AI Models Spread the Fake Condition
7:25 The Obvious Clues Nobody Caught
9:15 The Paper Gets Cited
10:04 Lessons About AI Medical Advice
12:32 Outro
Recommended Reading:
“Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real,” by Chris Stokel-Walker, in Nature. Published online April 7, 2026
nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y
A third of Americans say they’ve asked AI to decode their medical results
scientificamerican.com/article/asking-ai-to-explain-your-medical-results-what-doctors-want-you-to-know
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: scientificamerican.com/getsciam
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
