A research experiment was conducted by Ansible Health, a Silicon Valley start-up focused on treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which had been testing various AI and machine learning tools to improve its care. As part of the validation process for AI-assisted healthcare, ChatGPT was also tested to determine whether it could be genuinely useful in providing medical care. The results were impressive, with ChatGPT not only providing correct diagnoses but also explaining its reasoning behind the diagnosis.
The development of AI-assisted healthcare could revolutionize the medical industry, but people have only just begun to work out the logistics. There were some limitations to ChatGPT’s performance, as it was programmed to avoid providing what could be construed as actual medical advice. Researchers also excluded a set of “indeterminate” situations, which were too general to determine whether they were right or wrong.
Generative AI is still in its early stages, and for now, it will augment medical work rather than replace it. Ansible Health is currently using ChatGPT to help explain certain medical concepts to patients, but only after review by a trained professional. In the future, ChatGPT could be applied to wellness checks and other general practitioner tasks, incorporating data inputs like vocal tone, body language, and facial expressions, and immediate incorporation of a patient’s medical records.
However, it is important to note that AI models like ChatGPT sometimes make confident assertions that turn out to be false, which could prove dangerous in medical applications. Therefore, it is unlikely that machines will autonomously diagnose patients anytime soon. While AI will augment medical work for now, it has the potential to be applied to a wide range of medical tasks in the future.
Tags: AI, artificial intelligence (AI), chatbot, health advice, medicalCategorised in: Uncategorized
This post was written by Evelyn Eekels