Can ChatGPT become your new personal trainer?

ChatGPT has already led to many changes across society. People seek help from artificial intelligence for various tasks, including exercise. But can you use it as your personal trainer? An international team of researchers set out to investigate this further.

To test the artificial intelligence, they have created five distinct individuals with different genders, ages, illnesses, dietary requirements and training goals.

This information was fed into ChatGPT, which generated five different training programs, each lasting for 30 days. The programs were then evaluated by more than 30 fitness experts from around the world, including Professor Stephen Seiler at the University of Agder (UiA). He specializes in research on exercise and collaborates with groups such as Olympiatoppen and the Uno-X cycling team.

"The results could have been better, but overall, they were not too bad," Seiler says.

"You can also continue the conversation with ChatGPT and get a more specific program. They chose not to do so in this study, but you would probably get even better results by giving more instructions," Seiler says.

The research paper, which appears inBiology of Sport, concludes that ChatGPT can provide safe exercise recommendations. However, it also points out that artificial intelligence does not offer the complexity and customization needed for long-term exercise and health improvement.

The training programs were primarily focused on maintaining the individuals' physical fitness rather than improving it.

Although the results are good, it does not mean that personal trainers will lose their jobs.

"This is an example of a training program that you would receive from a personal trainer after your initial session. However, it needs to be customized for the individual as the training progresses, allowing the personal trainer to focus on what they excel at—the personal touch," Seiler says.

Professor Morten Goodwin at UiA is one of Norway's leading experts on artificial intelligence. He is also not concerned about the job prospects of personal trainers.

"I have come across lists of jobs that are predicted to vanish with the rise of artificial intelligence. Personal trainers rank low on those lists. Machines cannot replicate the uniquely human," Goodwin says.

The link between artificial intelligence and physical activity may not be immediately apparent. However, this topic has received extensive coverage lately.

"It is easy to assume that these tools can only generate text since they are language models. But language is where you find knowledge. Using artificial intelligence for exercise is interesting," Goodwin says.

Seiler highlights another point that the research did not consider: cost.

"Not everyone can afford a personal trainer. This can be a good start for those unable to afford one or who are simply curious," Seiler says.