Artificial intelligence models, which amaze everyone with their abilities, are expected to play a role in many different sectors in the coming years. Medicine is one of them. “Can artificial intelligence replace doctors?” While the question was circulating, a new study revealed some very interesting results on this subject.
The study revealed that ChatGPT was better able to respond to online questions from patients than doctors. This showed that although artificial intelligence tools do not replace doctors, they can answer health concerns in the near future. The research findings were published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
ChatGPT gave better quality and insightful answers to questions than doctors.
In the study, medical professionals analyzed the ChatGPT responses from patients and compared those responses with those of doctors. As a result of the comparison, it was seen that the answers of artificial intelligence were preferred in 79% of the cases. In addition, ChatGPT not only gave better quality answers, but also gave more ‘insightful’ answers.
John W. Ayers, a researcher from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, emphasized the high number of people seeking health advice in his statements on the subject, and drew attention to the importance of research: “There is an area in public health where you need it more than ever; it is also people seeking medical advice. Doctors’ inboxes are filled to the brim as people turn to virtual environments due to COVID. Patients’ e-mails may receive unanswered or poor replies.”
Considering how he can help this issue, Ayers stated that ChatGPT came to his mind and they carried out this study. In the research, 195 questions randomly taken from the “r/AskDoc” subreddit on Reddit, where approved doctors answer users’ questions, were directed to the model. The experts also compared the responses, considering both the quality of the responses and the level of empathy.
Then these interesting results emerged. ChatGPT’s responses rated “good” and “very good” 3 times more than doctors did. The model’s responses were also found to be almost 10 times more “empathetic” and “very empathetic” than doctors.
Much more research is needed to use AI models for things like this
The researchers add that their study doesn’t say ChatGPT is better than other models, and it’s too early for doctors to use AI. We still do not know enough about the risks and benefits of using chatbots in this area. The fact that these models often give wrong information creates question marks in the minds. It also doesn’t make sense to draw any firm conclusions from questions on Reddit alone. These questions do not reflect the typical doctor-patient relationship.
However, if they reach the desired levels, they can play an important role in the future of health services. Ayers notes that bots can save the lives of some patients: “For example, if you’re diagnosed with heart failure, you’re likely to die within five years. But we also know that clinical advice, such as limiting salt intake, can save your life. In this scenario, AI models can help humans.”
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