{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0467","record_version":1,"title":"AI chatbots endorse rectal garlic insertion as a health remedy","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":51.2,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.56,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":1,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"4a871815dcb4a3eea962d8f4a321f49512d5d8e5ff7a4f85fae83bf32c367c68"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-03-12","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"A set of AI chatbot systems, tested in a published study of 20 AI models, was found to urge people to insert garlic into their rectum as an immune remedy. The researchers assessed how the models handled medical misinformation, using more than 3.4 million prompts drawn from online forums, social media discussions and altered hospital discharge notes that contained a single false medical recommendation. Models were relatively sceptical of casual wording, failing to challenge the misinformation around 9% of the time, but the failure rate rose sharply to 46% when the same claims were in formal clinical language. Rectal garlic insertion was among the claims endorsed by chatbots in Reddit-style and MIMIC-style discussions. The sources state there is no evidence of medical benefit and that the practice may cause injury. Press coverage followed. The sources do not describe a deployed product's incident response or any remediation.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":"Prompts drawn from online forums, social media discussions and altered hospital discharge notes, each containing a single false medical recommendation","time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"Test: minor, contained to one evaluation. The sources describe a study of 20 models tested on misinformation prompts, with no third party stated as touched.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://health.yahoo.com/conditions/immune-system/articles/garlic-orally-not-way-175742281.html","publisher":"Yahoo Health","date":"2026-03-12","type":"press","title":"Take Garlic Orally, Not This Way - Yahoo Health","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"derivative"},{"url":"https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/13/ai-sparks-bizarre-garlic-health-trend-warning-27406932/","publisher":"Metro.co.uk","date":"2026-03-13","type":"press","title":"AI advised someone to stick garlic where the sun don't shine - Metro.co.uk","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.input_provenance":"C","event.date_disclosed":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This is one of the many bad pieces of advice AI health chatbots offer to people using them for medical advice."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"A new study published in The Lancet Digital Health found that systems similar to ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini have been urging people to insert garlic into their rectum."}],"event.input_provenance":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"They tested the systems using more than 3.4 million prompts drawn from online forums, social media discussions and altered hospital discharge notes that contained a single false medical recommendation."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"In the January study, researchers assessed how well 20 different AI models handled medical misinformation."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"In the January study, researchers assessed how well 20 different AI models handled medical misinformation."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"A new study published in The Lancet Digital Health found that systems similar to ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini have been urging people to insert garlic into their rectum."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"In the January study, researchers assessed how well 20 different AI models handled medical misinformation."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"They tested the systems using more than 3.4 million prompts drawn from online forums, social media discussions and altered hospital discharge notes that contained a single false medical recommendation."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"When incorrect advice appeared in casual, conversational language – similar to posts on online forums – the models were relatively sceptical, failing to challenge the misinformation around 9% of the time."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"However, when the same claims were rewritten in formal clinical language, the failure rate rose sharply to 46%."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"Oddly, rectal garlic insertion was among the claims endorsed by chatbots when presented with them in a Reddit-style discussion and in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) style notes."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"But not only is there zero evidence of any medical benefits, applying garlic in this way may actually cause injury."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources describe a research study testing 20 LLMs with misinformation prompts, not a deployed product incident. No specific developer or model version is named; the 'systems similar to ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini' wording is not confirmed as the models tested, so no model fields are given. Yahoo cites 'The Lancet' while Metro cites 'The Lancet Digital Health'; the journal recorded is the one Metro names. Yahoo says prompts used 'real hospital discharge notes' while Metro says 'altered' notes; the Metro wording is used. The study date is only 'January' with no year, so date_occurred is omitted. date_disclosed uses the Yahoo/Men's Journal press date as the earliest dated source, not a study publication date. Root cause is only a hypothesis ('may be structural') so it is omitted. No trigger, responsible party, containment, remediation or count of affected people is stated. Severity is judged minor because the test was a single evaluation with no third party stated as touched. The D1 'failed' link is my judgement that the failure to challenge misinformation reflects safety training and refusal. The developers' warning against medical use is not mapped to a control because no control is named. Harm is marked none_materialised because the sources say injury may occur but report no actual case. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Researchers tested 20 AI models with more than 3.4 million prompts containing medical misinformation.","quote":"They tested the systems using more than 3.4 million prompts drawn from online forums, social media discussions and altered hospital discharge notes that contained a single false medical recommendation.","source_index":1,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Chatbots endorsed rectal garlic insertion when the claim appeared in Reddit-style discussion and MIMIC-style notes.","quote":"Oddly, rectal garlic insertion was among the claims endorsed by chatbots when presented with them in a Reddit-style discussion and in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) style notes.","source_index":1,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://health.yahoo.com/conditions/immune-system/articles/garlic-orally-not-way-175742281.html","https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/13/ai-sparks-bizarre-garlic-health-trend-warning-27406932/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Researchers assessed 20 AI models on medical misinformation prompts.","quote":"In the January study, researchers assessed how well 20 different AI models handled medical misinformation.","source_index":1,"when":"January"},{"text":"Men's Journal originally published the press story on this date; Yahoo Health carried it.","quote":"This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section.","source_index":0,"when":"Mar 12, 2026"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://health.yahoo.com/conditions/immune-system/articles/garlic-orally-not-way-175742281.html","https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/13/ai-sparks-bizarre-garlic-health-trend-warning-27406932/"]}}