For symptoms like a runny nose and a cough, some might think it’s a common cold, and doesn’t require a doctor’s visit. In these cases, many people turn to sites, such as Google and WebMD for additional reassurance.
Now, with advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), some might be tempted to switch from “Dr. Google” to “Dr. ChatGPT.” But can OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot provide accurate medical advice?
Researchers from Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry set out to answer that question and explore whether ChatGPT can become a reliable resource in health-care and medical education.
The study, led by Dr. Amrit Kirpalani, assistant professor in the Department of Paediatrics, was recently published in PLOS One and found that ChatGPT was only 49 per cent accurate when it came to providing the right diagnosis.
ChatGPT is not yet ready to be used as a reliable medical diagnostic tool for complicated cases. But, Kirpalani’s study did find it was able to take complex medical topics and synthesize them in an easy-to-understand manner, an ability that could be beneficial for instructors and health-care providers seeking to deliver medical information in a digestible format.
“To me, the most relevant finding is that ChatGPT delivered its answers in a very simple and easy-to-understand way,” said Kirpalani. “I think that’s important because you can see the potential for it to be used as a great tool to help people learn and understand medical cases – but it can also be very convincing even when it’s wrong.”