Position: The Pitfalls of Over-Alignment: Overly Caution Health-Related Responses From LLMs are Unethical and Dangerous

Abstract: LLMs are usually aligned with "human values/preferences" to prevent harmful output. Discussions around the alignment of LLMs generally focus on preventing harmful outputs. However, in this paper, we argue that in health-related queries, over-alignment-leading to overly cautious responses-can itself be harmful, especially for people with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This is not only unethical but also dangerous to the user, both mentally and physically. We also showed qualitative results that some LLMs exhibit varying degrees of alignment. Finally, we call for the development of LLMs with stronger reasoning capabilities that provide more tailored and nuanced responses to health queries. Warning: This paper contains materials that could trigger health anxiety or OCD.