When Your AI Fitness Coach Recommends Unsafe Workouts

Episode 29 of AI Ethics with Fexingo explores the hidden dangers of AI fitness coaching apps. Lucas and Luna dive into a 2025 study from the University of Colorado Boulder that found popular AI-powered workout apps frequently recommend exercises with poor form or excessive intensity, leading to a 40% increase in user-reported injuries over a six-month period. The hosts examine the case of FitAI, a leading app whose algorithm optimized for user engagement rather than safety, and the regulatory gaps that allowed it to operate without oversight. They discuss the tension between personalization and harm, the lack of clinical trials in fitness AI, and what responsibility developers have when their code tells a user to push harder. Listeners learn how to critically evaluate AI recommendations for physical health and why the FDA's reluctance to classify fitness apps as medical devices leaves users vulnerable. #AIEthics #FitnessAI #HealthTech #AIInjuries #FitAI #WorkoutSafety #AlgorithmicHarm #AIBias #RegulationGap #FDA #ConsumerTech #ResponsibleAI #UniversityOfColorado #TechAccountability #Podcast #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo