a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen, in an interview with the New York Post's Lydia Moynihan, said "Doctor ChatGPT is a better doctor than 99% of doctors," arguing that AI is reshaping medical practice.
AI in Medicine · The "Dr. GPT" Debate
"Doctor ChatGPT is a better doctor than 99% of doctors"
a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen calls ChatGPT an "endlessly patient, infinitely knowledgeable doctor." But recent research paints a more cautious picture — strong on everyday queries, dangerously unreliable in emergencies.
76.2%
Accuracy on everyday health queries (Penn State, 2026)
52%
Of urgent cases were "under-triaged" — severity underestimated
99%
Of doctors "beaten" by ChatGPT — per Andreessen's claim
What the research actually measured
Accuracy across three independent 2026 studies — drawn to scale.
76%
Penn State
43%
Right next action
33%
Correct condition
The bullish case
Endlessly patient, available 24/7
Reads more literature than any human can
Has flagged long-undiagnosed conditions and post-op complications
The caution
Under-triages urgent cases — may miss emergencies
Hallucinations and weak context understanding
Clinicians see it as an "assistive tool," not a replacement
The gap: Andreessen's "99%" claim rests on consumer ChatGPT — not a new product or benchmark. Specialized tools using retrieval-augmented knowledge perform differently than the chatbot users access directly, and the debate over how far AI can take on medicine remains wide open.
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