ChatGPT in medicine: opportunity and challenges

Abstract

Chat generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) is a large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI). Indeed, ChatGPT is a chatbot able to participate in a conversation by pretending to be a human. ChatGPT is able to write convincing academic texts which are hard to be distinguished from a human-written manuscript. In the medical context, ChatGPT demonstrated its ability to write abstracts and texts related to the given questions. It could answer medical questions whether they are asked by students or researchers. ChatGPT is able to enhance the knowledge of students by designing tests and answering personalized questions, consequently reducing the burden on teachers. This AI system can participate in healthcare programs by providing information for patients and acting as the connector between patients and healthcare providers. Also, it could serve as a translator and a text generator for patients who speak a different language or those who have speech difficulties. ChatGPT is also able to provide and categorize medical information necessary for healthcare providers and physicians. Nonetheless, the major concern is the level of reliability of generated data. In some cases, ChatGPT produced misleading information and fake citations which warned medical researchers. Worryingly, these false data could distract the process of treatments and or the projects of medical researchers. Regarding the inevitable necessity of AI utilization in the medical field, strict criteria should be enforced in order to improve the efficacy and reduce the safety of the application of any AI chatbot like ChatGPT.