Cleveland Clinic Journal of MedicineArtificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice: A Look at ChatGPT

Unveiling the Clinical Potential and Limitations of ChatGPT in Healthcare: Implications for Future Medical Practice

In the ever-evolving domain of healthcare technologies, the adoption of artificial intelligence, particularly large language models like ChatGPT, is under scrutiny for its potential to revolutionize clinical practice. This comprehensive analysis delves into the capabilities, limitations, and future prospects of ChatGPT in medical settings, providing physicians with a nuanced understanding of its applicability in enhancing patient care and streamlining administrative tasks.

Key Points:

• ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, is increasingly explored for its potential applications in clinical settings, aiming to enhance clinician workflow and decision-making.
• Despite its prowess in generating conversational responses, ChatGPT’s reliability in delivering accurate medical advice and its applicability in real-world clinical scenarios remains under question due to inherent limitations.
• Studies show ChatGPT can perform comparably to physicians in exams like the US Medical Licensing Examination but struggle with the complexity and variability of real patient cases.
• ChatGPT is prone to “hallucinations” or generating incorrect information, a significant concern when accurate and factual data are paramount in patient care.
• The model’s lack of transparency and inability to provide verifiable references poses challenges for its integration into evidence-based medicine practices.
• Despite biases in its outputs, due to the nature of its training data, ChatGPT has potential in administrative roles, reducing the burden on healthcare professionals and allowing more patient interaction time.
• Future advancements in AI aim to develop LLMs specifically for clinical use, focusing on reducing hallucinations and enhancing the accuracy and relevance of their outputs in healthcare settings.

“…this study raises a fundamental question: can a text-based entity like ChatGPT truly provide empathetic care? The relationship between physicians and patients is multifaceted and built on trust, and relies on nonverbal cues, subtle signs, and rapport. LLMs, being restricted to text-based communication, inevitably have limitations in this regard.”
– The Authors

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