OpenAI officially updated the ChatGPT usage policy on October 29, explicitly prohibiting the model from providing professional medical, legal, or financial advice. This move aims to avoid regulatory risks and reduce the potential for misinformation, redefining the application boundaries of AI in high-risk areas. The core content of the new regulations includes refusing to interpret medical images, assist in diagnosis, draft or explain legal contracts, or provide personalized investment strategies or tax planning.

ChatGPT

If users make such requests, the system will uniformly respond by guiding them to consult human experts. The policy applies to all ChatGPT models and API interfaces, ensuring consistent implementation. Professionals can still be used for general concept discussions or data organization, but they must not directly provide "trust-based" advice to end users. This adjustment is driven by global regulation. The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act is about to come into effect, subjecting high-risk AI to strict review; the U.S. FDA requires clinical validation for diagnostic AI tools. OpenAI's move avoids being classified as "software as a medical device" and prevents potential lawsuits. Industry insiders believe this is an active response to EU fines (up to 6% of GDP) and U.S. legal risks.

User reactions are divided. Some individual users regret losing a "low-cost consultation" channel, stating that they previously relied on AI to save on professional fees; however, the medical and legal communities generally support it, believing that AI's "pseudo-expert" output can lead to misdiagnosis or disputes. Data shows that over 40% of ChatGPT queries are for advice, with medical and financial queries accounting for nearly 30%, and the policy may cause a short-term drop in traffic. The industry impact is profound. Google, Anthropic, and others may follow and impose restrictions, while vertical AI tools (such as certified legal or medical models) are expected to rise. Chinese companies like Baidu have already complied with regulations, and under stricter domestic regulation, innovation will need to explore within a "sandbox" mechanism.

OpenAI emphasizes that the goal is to "balance innovation and safety." This update continues its Model Spec framework and is expected to further iterate in February 2025. The transformation of AI from a "versatile assistant" to a "limited assistant" has become an industry consensus. In the future, technological breakthroughs and ethical constraints will proceed in parallel, and the GPT-5 era may bring a new balance.