New Delhi, May 6 (). Generative AI chatbots like OpenAI ChatGPT present a huge opportunity for both doctors and patients, but the tool falls short on the capability and accuracy required in the healthcare sector. Experts said this here on Friday.
ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. The AI chatbot, which can write basic prose and chat with human fluency, has also passed several exams including the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE). It scored almost 50 percent on the Board Certification Practice Tests of Canada for Ophthalmology.
Apart from healthcare, the AI tool also cracked other MBA exams and managed to clear the Google coding interview for level 3 engineers.
A recent report by data and analytics company Google states that the revolutionary technology has the potential to completely transform healthcare. It can prompt and interact with patients and also review patient symptoms and then recommend clinical advice.
Doctors can benefit from ChatGPT, as it can give them quick, concise and accurate feedback, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s National COVID-19 Task Force, told .
On the other hand, patients can use ChatGPT to find answers to common questions about their health status, he added. This can better prepare them to ask the right questions in the limited time they have during a doctor’s appointment.
This was reflected in a recent study published in the National Cancer Institute’s journal Cancer Spectrum, which showed that ChatGPT was found to be correct when it came to answering questions about people’s cancer, especially myths and misconceptions. 97 percent was found to be accurate in giving information.
The AI was so accurate that test takers were unaware whether the answers came from ChatGPT or the US National Cancer Institute.
Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta, public health expert and former advisor to India’s health minister, told , Generative AI like ChatGPT can help with some scans, diagnostics and will reduce the pressure on pathologists and radiologists.
Although ChatGPT does not sense emotions or empathy, ChatGPT outperformed physicians in providing high-quality, empathetic advice to patients’ questions, as the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Kochi-based gastroenterologist Dr. Jayadevan said, it is remarkable that an inanimate object like a computer is perceived by its users to be more empathetic.
He said that ChatGPT has no time limit. This is in contrast to a busy doctor, who may rush between patients and therefore may not be able to provide a detailed text response.
Another area is language proficiency which can vary between individuals, but this is not an issue for ChatGPT.
However, AL tools also have their limitations.
Dr. Jayadevan said, unfortunately, ChatGPT is not accurate in providing reference links to published research studies. Hope this bug will be fixed soon.
He added that ChatGPT also works on information available as of September 2021, and so there may not be some more recent updates.
ChatGPT has been shown to be helpful for breast cancer screening advice in a study led by researchers at the University of Maryland. But sometimes, the information was found to be wrong or even fictitious.
According to Dr. Gupta, the enthusiasm for generative AI like ChatGPT is not matched by the potential required for medicine.
So countries like India, which do not have any treatment protocol based medical practice, should wait for a few years for standard practice guidelines to be followed and then apply AI, he said.
The expert said, however, that there would be a lot of disruption in the healthcare sector in the coming few years. We will not rule out the use of generative AI and conversational AI chatbots in primary care. It will have a very important role in primary care and secondary prevention diagnosis.
Although we are still a few years away from its use in treatment, Dr. Gupta said, “but we will get there.”
SGK/ANM
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