ChatGPT and the rise of large language models: the new AI-driven infodemic threat in public health

How good is ChatGPT at answering patients' questions related to early detection of oral (mouth) cancer?

OBJECTIVES

To examine the quality, reliability, readability, and usefulness of ChatGPT in promoting oral cancer early detection.

STUDY DESIGN

About 108 patient-oriented questions about oral cancer early detection were compiled from expert panels, professional societies, and web-based tools. Questions were categorized into 4 topic domains and ChatGPT 3.5 was asked each question independently. ChatGPT answers were evaluated regarding quality, readability, actionability, and usefulness using. Two experienced reviewers independently assessed each response.

RESULTS

Questions related to clinical appearance constituted 36.1% (n = 39) of the total questions. ChatGPT provided "very useful" responses to the majority of questions (75%; n = 81). The mean Global Quality Score was 4.24 ± 1.3 of 5. The mean reliability score was 23.17 ± 9.87 of 25. The mean understandability score was 76.6% ± 25.9% of 100, while the mean actionability score was 47.3% ± 18.9% of 100. The mean FKS reading ease score was 38.4% ± 29.9%, while the mean SMOG index readability score was 11.65 ± 8.4. No misleading information was identified among ChatGPT responses.

CONCLUSION

ChatGPT is an attractive and potentially useful resource for informing patients about early detection of oral cancer. Nevertheless, concerns do exist about readability and actionability of the offered information.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Headache Field

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Headache disorders are highly prevalent worldwide. Rapidly advancing capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) have expanded headache-related research with the potential to solve unmet needs in the headache field. We provide an overview of AI in headache research in this article.

RECENT FINDINGS

We briefly introduce machine learning models and commonly used evaluation metrics. We then review studies that have utilized AI in the field to advance diagnostic accuracy and classification, predict treatment responses, gather insights from various data sources, and forecast migraine attacks. Furthermore, given the emergence of ChatGPT, a type of large language model (LLM), and the popularity it has gained, we also discuss how LLMs could be used to advance the field. Finally, we discuss the potential pitfalls, bias, and future directions of employing AI in headache medicine. Many recent studies on headache medicine incorporated machine learning, generative AI and LLMs. A comprehensive understanding of potential pitfalls and biases is crucial to using these novel techniques with minimum harm. When used appropriately, AI has the potential to revolutionize headache medicine.

The ethics of ChatGPT in medicine and healthcare: a systematic review on Large Language Models (LLMs)

With the introduction of ChatGPT, Large Language Models (LLMs) have received enormous attention in healthcare. Despite potential benefits, researchers have underscored various ethical implications. While individual instances have garnered attention, a systematic and comprehensive overview of practical applications currently researched and ethical issues connected to them is lacking. Against this background, this work maps the ethical landscape surrounding the current deployment of LLMs in medicine and healthcare through a systematic review. Electronic databases and preprint servers were queried using a comprehensive search strategy which generated 796 records. Studies were screened and extracted following a modified rapid review approach. Methodological quality was assessed using a hybrid approach. For 53 records, a meta-aggregative synthesis was performed. Four general fields of applications emerged showcasing a dynamic exploration phase. Advantages of using LLMs are attributed to their capacity in data analysis, information provisioning, support in decision-making or mitigating information loss and enhancing information accessibility. However, our study also identifies recurrent ethical concerns connected to fairness, bias, non-maleficence, transparency, and privacy. A distinctive concern is the tendency to produce harmful or convincing but inaccurate content. Calls for ethical guidance and human oversight are recurrent. We suggest that the ethical guidance debate should be reframed to focus on defining what constitutes acceptable human oversight across the spectrum of applications. This involves considering the diversity of settings, varying potentials for harm, and different acceptable thresholds for performance and certainty in healthcare. Additionally, critical inquiry is needed to evaluate the necessity and justification of LLMs' current experimental use.

Development of AI-generated medical responses using the ChatGPT for cancer patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

To develop a healthcare chatbot service (AI-guided bot) that conducts real-time conversations using large language models to provide accurate health information to patients.

METHODS

To provide accurate and specialized medical responses, we integrated several cancer practice guidelines. The size of the integrated meta-dataset was 1.17 million tokens. The integrated and classified metadata were extracted, transformed into text, segmented to specific character lengths, and vectorized using the embedding model. The AI-guide bot was implemented using Python 3.9. To enhance the scalability and incorporate the integrated dataset, we combined the AI-guide bot with OpenAI and the LangChain framework. To generate user-friendly conversations, a language model was developed based on Chat-Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT), an interactive conversational chatbot powered by GPT-3.5. The AI-guide bot was implemented using ChatGPT3.5 from Sep. 2023 to Jan. 2024.

RESULTS

The AI-guide bot allowed users to select their desired cancer type and language for conversational interactions. The AI-guided bot was designed to expand its capabilities to encompass multiple major cancer types. The performance of the AI-guide bot responses was 90.98 ± 4.02 (obtained by summing up the Likert scores).

CONCLUSIONS

The AI-guide bot can provide medical information quickly and accurately to patients with cancer who are concerned about their health.

A comparative evaluation of ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4 in responses to selected genetics questions

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the efficacy of ChatGPT 4 (GPT-4) in delivering genetic information about BRCA1, HFE, and MLH1, building on previous findings with ChatGPT 3.5 (GPT-3.5). To focus on assessing the utility, limitations, and ethical implications of using ChatGPT in medical settings.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A structured survey was developed to assess GPT-4's clinical value. An expert panel of genetic counselors and clinical geneticists evaluated GPT-4's responses to these questions. We also performed comparative analysis with GPT-3.5, utilizing descriptive statistics and using Prism 9 for data analysis.

RESULTS

The findings indicate improved accuracy in GPT-4 over GPT-3.5 (P < .0001). However, notable errors in accuracy remained. The relevance of responses varied in GPT-4, but was generally favorable, with a mean in the "somewhat agree" range. There was no difference in performance by disease category. The 7-question subset of the Bot Usability Scale (BUS-15) showed no statistically significant difference between the groups but trended lower in the GPT-4 version.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The study underscores GPT-4's potential role in genetic education, showing notable progress yet facing challenges like outdated information and the necessity of ongoing refinement. Our results, while showing promise, emphasizes the importance of balancing technological innovation with ethical responsibility in healthcare information delivery.

Exploring ChatGPT's potential in the clinical stream of neurorehabilitation

In several medical fields, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have achieved optimal performance in identifying correct diagnoses only by evaluating narrative clinical descriptions of cases. The most active fields of application include oncology and COVID-19-related symptoms, with preliminary relevant results also in psychiatric and neurological domains. This scoping review aims to introduce the arrival of ChatGPT applications in neurorehabilitation practice, where such AI-driven solutions have the potential to revolutionize patient care and assistance. First, a comprehensive overview of ChatGPT, including its design, and potential applications in medicine is provided. Second, the remarkable natural language processing skills and limitations of these models are examined with a focus on their use in neurorehabilitation. In this context, we present two case scenarios to evaluate ChatGPT ability to resolve higher-order clinical reasoning. Overall, we provide support to the first evidence that generative AI can meaningfully integrate as a facilitator into neurorehabilitation practice, aiding physicians in defining increasingly efficacious diagnostic and personalized prognostic plans.

Using Large Language Models to Address Health Literacy in mHealth: Case Report

The innate complexity of medical topics often makes it challenging to produce educational content for the public. Although there are resources available to help authors appraise the complexity of their content, there are woefully few resources available to help authors reduce that complexity after it occurs. In this case study, we evaluate using ChatGPT to reduce the complex language used in health-related educational materials. ChatGPT adapted content from the SmartSHOTS mobile application, which is geared toward caregivers of children aged 0 to 24 months. SmartSHOTS helps reduce barriers and improve adherence to vaccination schedules. ChatGPT reduced complex sentence structure and rewrote content to align with a third-grade reading level. Furthermore, using ChatGPT to edit content already written removes the potential for unnoticed, artificial intelligence-produced inaccuracies. As an editorial tool, ChatGPT was effective, efficient, and free to use. This article discusses the potential of ChatGPT as an effective, time-efficient, and open-source method for editing health-related educational materials to reflect a comprehendible reading level.

Advocating for population health: The role of public health practitioners in the age of artificial intelligence

Over the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to transform Canadian organizations, driven by the promise of improved efficiency, better decision-making, and enhanced client experience. While AI holds great opportunities, there are also near-term impacts on the determinants of health and population health equity that are already emerging. If adoption is unregulated, there is a substantial risk that health inequities could be exacerbated through intended or unintended biases embedded in AI systems. New economic opportunities could be disproportionately leveraged by already privileged workers and owners of AI systems, reinforcing prevailing power dynamics. AI could also detrimentally affect population well-being by replacing human interactions rather than fostering social connectedness. Furthermore, AI-powered health misinformation could undermine effective public health communication. To respond to these challenges, public health must assess and report on the health equity impacts of AI, inform implementation to reduce health inequities, and facilitate intersectoral partnerships to foster development of policies and regulatory frameworks to mitigate risks. This commentary highlights AI's near-term risks for population health to inform a public health response.

ChatGPT as an information tool in rhinology. Can we trust each other today?

PURPOSE

ChatGPT (Chat-Generative Pre-trained Transformer) has proven to be a powerful information tool on various topics, including healthcare. This system is based on information obtained on the Internet, but this information is not always reliable. Currently, few studies analyze the validity of these responses in rhinology. Our work aims to assess the quality and reliability of the information provided by AI regarding the main rhinological pathologies.

METHODS

We asked to the default ChatGPT version (GPT-3.5) 65 questions about the most prevalent pathologies in rhinology. The focus was learning about the causes, risk factors, treatments, prognosis, and outcomes. We use the Discern questionnaire and a hexagonal radar schema to evaluate the quality of the information. We use Fleiss's kappa statistical analysis to determine the consistency of agreement between different observers.

RESULTS

The overall evaluation of the Discern questionnaire resulted in a score of 4.05 (± 0.6). The results in the Reliability section are worse, with an average score of 3.18. (± 1.77). This score is affected by the responses to questions about the source of the information provided. The average score for the Quality section was 3.59 (± 1.18). Fleiss's Kappa shows substantial agreement, with a K of 0.69 (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The ChatGPT answers are accurate and reliable. It generates a simple and understandable description of the pathology for the patient's benefit. Our team considers that ChatGPT could be a useful tool to provide information under prior supervision by a health professional.

The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption and impact of AI ChatGPT: Challenges, applications, and ethical considerations

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This article employs qualitative thematic modeling to gather insights from 30 informants. The study explores various aspects related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on AI ChatGPT technologies.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this research is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the increased usage and adoption of AI ChatGPT. It aims to explore the pandemic's impact on AI ChatGPT and its applications in specific domains, as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents.

FINDINGS

The findings highlight that the pandemic has led to a surge in online activities, resulting in a heightened demand for AI ChatGPT. It has been widely used in areas such as healthcare, mental health support, remote collaboration, and personalized customer experiences. The article showcases examples of AI ChatGPT's application during the pandemic.

STRENGTH OF STUDY

This qualitative framework enables the study to delve deeply into the multifaceted dimensions of AI ChatGPT's role during the pandemic, capturing the diverse experiences and insights of users, practitioners, and experts. By embracing the qualitative nature of inquiry and this research offers a comprehensive understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations associated with the adoption and utilization of AI ChatGPT in crisis contexts.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The insights from this research have practical implications for policymakers, developers, and researchers. This reserach emphasize the need for responsible and ethical implementation of AI ChatGPT to fully harness its potential in addressing societal needs during and beyond the pandemic.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The increased reliance on AI ChatGPT during the pandemic has led to changes in user behavior, expectations, and interactions. However, it has also unveiled ethical considerations and potential risks. Addressing societal and ethical concerns, such as user impact and autonomy, privacy and security, bias and fairness, and transparency and accountability, is crucial for the responsible deployment of AI ChatGPT.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This research contributes to the understanding of the novel role of AI ChatGPT in times of crisis, particularly in the era of COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the necessity of responsible and ethical implementation of AI ChatGPT and provides valuable insights for the development and application of AI technology in the future.

CoRTEx: contrastive learning for representing terms via explanations with applications on constructing biomedical knowledge graphs

OBJECTIVES

Biomedical Knowledge Graphs play a pivotal role in various biomedical research domains. Concurrently, term clustering emerges as a crucial step in constructing these knowledge graphs, aiming to identify synonymous terms. Due to a lack of knowledge, previous contrastive learning models trained with Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) synonyms struggle at clustering difficult terms and do not generalize well beyond UMLS terms. In this work, we leverage the world knowledge from large language models (LLMs) and propose Contrastive Learning for Representing Terms via Explanations (CoRTEx) to enhance term representation and significantly improves term clustering.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The model training involves generating explanations for a cleaned subset of UMLS terms using ChatGPT. We employ contrastive learning, considering term and explanation embeddings simultaneously, and progressively introduce hard negative samples. Additionally, a ChatGPT-assisted BIRCH algorithm is designed for efficient clustering of a new ontology.

RESULTS

We established a clustering test set and a hard negative test set, where our model consistently achieves the highest F1 score. With CoRTEx embeddings and the modified BIRCH algorithm, we grouped 35 580 932 terms from the Biomedical Informatics Ontology System (BIOS) into 22 104 559 clusters with O(N) queries to ChatGPT. Case studies highlight the model's efficacy in handling challenging samples, aided by information from explanations.

CONCLUSION

By aligning terms to their explanations, CoRTEx demonstrates superior accuracy over benchmark models and robustness beyond its training set, and it is suitable for clustering terms for large-scale biomedical ontologies.

A novel approach for identification of zoonotic trypanosome utilizing deep metric learning and vector database-based image retrieval system

Trypanosomiasis, a significant health concern in South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, requires active surveys to effectively control the disease. To address this, we have developed a hybrid model that combines deep metric learning (DML) and image retrieval. This model is proficient at identifying Trypanosoma species in microscopic images of thin-blood film examinations. Utilizing the ResNet50 backbone neural network, a trained-model has demonstrated outstanding performance, achieving an accuracy exceeding 99.71 % and up to 96 % in recall. Acknowledging the necessity for automated tools in field scenarios, we demonstrated the potential of our model as an autonomous screening approach. This was achieved by using prevailing convolutional neural network (CNN) applications, and vector database based-images returned by the KNN algorithm. This achievement is primarily attributed to the implementation of the Triplet Margin Loss function as 98 % of precision. The robustness of the model demonstrated in five-fold cross-validation highlights the ResNet50 neural network, based on DML, as a state-of-the-art CNN model as AUC >98 %. The adoption of DML significantly improves the performance of the model, remaining unaffected by variations in the dataset and rendering it a useful tool for fieldwork studies. DML offers several advantages over conventional classification model to manage large-scale datasets with a high volume of classes, enhancing scalability. The model has the capacity to generalize to novel classes that were not encountered during training, proving particularly advantageous in scenarios where new classes may consistently emerge. It is also well suited for applications requiring precise recognition, especially in discriminating between closely related classes. Furthermore, the DML exhibits greater resilience to issues related to class imbalance, as it concentrates on learning distances or similarities, which are more tolerant to such imbalances. These contributions significantly make the effectiveness and practicality of DML model, particularly in in fieldwork research.

The Use of Generative AI for Scientific Literature Searches for Systematic Reviews: ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing AI Performance Evaluation

Background

A large language model is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) model that opens up great possibilities for health care practice, research, and education, although scholars have emphasized the need to proactively address the issue of unvalidated and inaccurate information regarding its use. One of the best-known large language models is ChatGPT (OpenAI). It is believed to be of great help to medical research, as it facilitates more efficient data set analysis, code generation, and literature review, allowing researchers to focus on experimental design as well as drug discovery and development.

Objective

This study aims to explore the potential of ChatGPT as a real-time literature search tool for systematic reviews and clinical decision support systems, to enhance their efficiency and accuracy in health care settings.

Methods

The search results of a published systematic review by human experts on the treatment of Peyronie disease were selected as a benchmark, and the literature search formula of the study was applied to ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing AI as a comparison to human researchers. Peyronie disease typically presents with discomfort, curvature, or deformity of the penis in association with palpable plaques and erectile dysfunction. To evaluate the quality of individual studies derived from AI answers, we created a structured rating system based on bibliographic information related to the publications. We classified its answers into 4 grades if the title existed: A, B, C, and F. No grade was given for a fake title or no answer.

Results

From ChatGPT, 7 (0.5%) out of 1287 identified studies were directly relevant, whereas Bing AI resulted in 19 (40%) relevant studies out of 48, compared to the human benchmark of 24 studies. In the qualitative evaluation, ChatGPT had 7 grade A, 18 grade B, 167 grade C, and 211 grade F studies, and Bing AI had 19 grade A and 28 grade C studies.

Conclusions

This is the first study to compare AI and conventional human systematic review methods as a real-time literature collection tool for evidence-based medicine. The results suggest that the use of ChatGPT as a tool for real-time evidence generation is not yet accurate and feasible. Therefore, researchers should be cautious about using such AI. The limitations of this study using the generative pre-trained transformer model are that the search for research topics was not diverse and that it did not prevent the hallucination of generative AI. However, this study will serve as a standard for future studies by providing an index to verify the reliability and consistency of generative AI from a user's point of view. If the reliability and consistency of AI literature search services are verified, then the use of these technologies will help medical research greatly.

The public attitude towards ChatGPT on reddit: A study based on unsupervised learning from sentiment analysis and topic modeling

ChatGPT has demonstrated impressive abilities and impacted various aspects of human society since its creation, gaining widespread attention from different social spheres. This study aims to comprehensively assess public perception of ChatGPT on Reddit. The dataset was collected via Reddit, a social media platform, and includes 23,733 posts and comments related to ChatGPT. Firstly, to examine public attitudes, this study conducts content analysis utilizing topic modeling with the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm to extract pertinent topics. Furthermore, sentiment analysis categorizes user posts and comments as positive, negative, or neutral using Textblob and Vader in natural language processing. The result of topic modeling shows that seven topics regarding ChatGPT are identified, which can be grouped into three themes: user perception, technical methods, and impacts on society. Results from the sentiment analysis show that 61.6% of the posts and comments hold favorable opinions on ChatGPT. They emphasize ChatGPT's ability to prompt and engage in natural conversations with users, without relying on complex natural language processing. It provides suggestions for ChatGPT developers to enhance its usability design and functionality. Meanwhile, stakeholders, including users, should comprehend the advantages and disadvantages of ChatGPT in human society to promote ethical and regulated implementation of the system.

Assessing the Quality of ChatGPT Responses to Dementia Caregivers' Questions: Qualitative Analysis

Background

Artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT by OpenAI holds great promise to improve the quality of life of patients with dementia and their caregivers by providing high-quality responses to their questions about typical dementia behaviors. So far, however, evidence on the quality of such ChatGPT responses is limited. A few recent publications have investigated the quality of ChatGPT responses in other health conditions. Our study is the first to assess ChatGPT using real-world questions asked by dementia caregivers themselves.

objectives

This pilot study examines the potential of ChatGPT-3.5 to provide high-quality information that may enhance dementia care and patient-caregiver education.

Methods

Our interprofessional team used a formal rating scale (scoring range: 0-5; the higher the score, the better the quality) to evaluate ChatGPT responses to real-world questions posed by dementia caregivers. We selected 60 posts by dementia caregivers from Reddit, a popular social media platform. These posts were verified by 3 interdisciplinary dementia clinicians as representing dementia caregivers' desire for information in the areas of memory loss and confusion, aggression, and driving. Word count for posts in the memory loss and confusion category ranged from 71 to 531 (mean 218; median 188), aggression posts ranged from 58 to 602 words (mean 254; median 200), and driving posts ranged from 93 to 550 words (mean 272; median 276).

Results

ChatGPT's response quality scores ranged from 3 to 5. Of the 60 responses, 26 (43%) received 5 points, 21 (35%) received 4 points, and 13 (22%) received 3 points, suggesting high quality. ChatGPT obtained consistently high scores in synthesizing information to provide follow-up recommendations (n=58, 96%), with the lowest scores in the area of comprehensiveness (n=38, 63%).

Conclusions

ChatGPT provided high-quality responses to complex questions posted by dementia caregivers, but it did have limitations. ChatGPT was unable to anticipate future problems that a human professional might recognize and address in a clinical encounter. At other times, ChatGPT recommended a strategy that the caregiver had already explicitly tried. This pilot study indicates the potential of AI to provide high-quality information to enhance dementia care and patient-caregiver education in tandem with information provided by licensed health care professionals. Evaluating the quality of responses is necessary to ensure that caregivers can make informed decisions. ChatGPT has the potential to transform health care practice by shaping how caregivers receive health information.

Evaluation of the accuracy of ChatGPT's responses to and references for clinical questions in physical therapy

[Purpose] This study evaluated the accuracy of ChatGPT's responses to and references for five clinical questions in physical therapy based on the Physical Therapy Guidelines and assessed this language model's potential as a tool for supporting clinical decision-making in the rehabilitation field. [Participants and Methods] Five clinical questions from the "Stroke", "Musculoskeletal disorders", and "Internal disorders" sections of the Physical Therapy Guidelines, released by the Japanese Society of Physical Therapy, were presented to ChatGPT. ChatGPT was instructed to provide responses in Japanese accompanied by references such as PubMed IDs or digital object identifiers. The accuracy of the generated content and references was evaluated by two assessors with expertise in their respective sections by using a 4-point scale, and comments were provided for point deductions. The inter-rater agreement was evaluated using weighted kappa coefficients. [Results] ChatGPT demonstrated adequate accuracy in generating content for clinical questions in physical therapy. However, the accuracy of the references was poor, with a significant number of references being non-existent or misinterpreted. [Conclusion] ChatGPT has limitations in reference selection and reliability. While ChatGPT can offer accurate responses to clinical questions in physical therapy, it should be used with caution because it is not a completely reliable model.

Large Language Models in Ophthalmology: Potential and Pitfalls

Large language models (LLMs) show great promise in assisting clinicians in general, and ophthalmology in particular, through knowledge synthesis, decision support, accelerating research, enhancing education, and improving patient interactions. Specifically, LLMs can rapidly summarize the latest literature to keep clinicians up-to-date. They can also analyze patient data to highlight crucial insights and recommend appropriate tests or referrals. LLMs can automate tedious research tasks like data cleaning and literature reviews. As AI tutors, LLMs can fill knowledge gaps and assess competency in trainees. As chatbots, they can provide empathetic, personalized responses to patient inquiries and improve satisfaction. The visual capabilities of LLMs like GPT-4 allow assisting the visually impaired by describing environments. However, there are significant ethical, technical, and legal challenges around the use of LLMs that should be addressed regarding privacy, fairness, robustness, attribution, and regulation. Ongoing oversight and refinement of models is critical to realize benefits while minimizing risks and upholding responsible AI principles. If carefully implemented, LLMs hold immense potential to push the boundaries of care, discovery, and quality of life for ophthalmology patients.

An explorative assessment of ChatGPT as an aid in medical education: Use it with caution

OBJECTIVE

To explore the use of ChatGPT by educators and students in a medical school setting.

METHOD

This study used the public version of ChatGPT launched by OpenAI on November 30, 2022 (https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/). We employed prompts to ask ChatGPT to 1) generate a content outline for a session on the topics of cholesterol, lipoproteins, and hyperlipidemia for medical students; 2) produce a list of learning objectives for the session; and 3) write assessment questions with and without clinical vignettes related to the identified learning objectives. We assessed the responses by ChatGPT for accuracy and reliability to determine the potential of the chatbot as an aid to educators and as a "know-it-all" medical information provider for students.

RESULTS

ChatGPT can function as an aid to educators, but it is not yet suitable as a reliable information resource for educators and medical students.

CONCLUSION

ChatGPT can be a useful tool to assist medical educators in drafting course and session content outlines and create assessment questions. At the same time, caution must be taken as ChatGPT is prone to providing incorrect information; expert oversight and caution are necessary to ensure the information generated is accurate and beneficial to students. Therefore, it is premature for medical students to use the current version of ChatGPT as a "know-it-all" information provider. In the future, medical educators should work with programming experts to explore and grow the full potential of AI in medical education.

Large Language Models and User Trust: Consequence of Self-Referential Learning Loop and the Deskilling of Health Care Professionals

As the health care industry increasingly embraces large language models (LLMs), understanding the consequence of this integration becomes crucial for maximizing benefits while mitigating potential pitfalls. This paper explores the evolving relationship among clinician trust in LLMs, the transition of data sources from predominantly human-generated to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, and the subsequent impact on the performance of LLMs and clinician competence. One of the primary concerns identified in this paper is the LLMs' self-referential learning loops, where AI-generated content feeds into the learning algorithms, threatening the diversity of the data pool, potentially entrenching biases, and reducing the efficacy of LLMs. While theoretical at this stage, this feedback loop poses a significant challenge as the integration of LLMs in health care deepens, emphasizing the need for proactive dialogue and strategic measures to ensure the safe and effective use of LLM technology. Another key takeaway from our investigation is the role of user expertise and the necessity for a discerning approach to trusting and validating LLM outputs. The paper highlights how expert users, particularly clinicians, can leverage LLMs to enhance productivity by off-loading routine tasks while maintaining a critical oversight to identify and correct potential inaccuracies in AI-generated content. This balance of trust and skepticism is vital for ensuring that LLMs augment rather than undermine the quality of patient care. We also discuss the risks associated with the deskilling of health care professionals. Frequent reliance on LLMs for critical tasks could result in a decline in health care providers' diagnostic and thinking skills, particularly affecting the training and development of future professionals. The legal and ethical considerations surrounding the deployment of LLMs in health care are also examined. We discuss the medicolegal challenges, including liability in cases of erroneous diagnoses or treatment advice generated by LLMs. The paper references recent legislative efforts, such as The Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2023, as crucial steps toward establishing a framework for the ethical and responsible use of AI-based technologies in health care. In conclusion, this paper advocates for a strategic approach to integrating LLMs into health care. By emphasizing the importance of maintaining clinician expertise, fostering critical engagement with LLM outputs, and navigating the legal and ethical landscape, we can ensure that LLMs serve as valuable tools in enhancing patient care and supporting health care professionals. This approach addresses the immediate challenges posed by integrating LLMs and sets a foundation for their maintainable and responsible use in the future.

ChatGPT: Literate or intelligent about UN sustainable development goals?

Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are progressively transforming numerous sectors, demonstrating a capacity to impact human life dramatically. This research seeks to evaluate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) literacy of ChatGPT, which is crucial for diverse stakeholders involved in SDG-related policies. Experimental outcomes from two widely used Sustainability Assessment tests-the UN SDG Fitness Test and Sustainability Literacy Test (SULITEST) - suggest that ChatGPT exhibits high SDG literacy, yet its comprehensive SDG intelligence needs further exploration. The Fitness Test gauges eight vital competencies across introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. Accurate mapping of these to the test questions is essential for partial evaluation of SDG intelligence. To assess SDG intelligence, the questions from both tests were mapped to 17 SDGs and eight cross-cutting SDG core competencies, but both test questionnaires were found to be insufficient. SULITEST could satisfactorily map only 5 out of 8 competencies, whereas the Fitness Test managed to map 6 out of 8. Regarding the coverage of the Fitness Test and SULITEST, their mapping to the 17 SDGs, both tests fell short. Most SDGs were underrepresented in both instruments, with certain SDGs not represented at all. Consequently, both tools proved ineffective in assessing SDG intelligence through SDG coverage. The study recommends future versions of ChatGPT to enhance competencies such as collaboration, critical thinking, systems thinking, and others to achieve the SDGs. It concludes that while AI models like ChatGPT hold considerable potential in sustainable development, their usage must be approached carefully, considering current limitations and ethical implications.

Clearing the Fog: A Scoping Literature Review on the Ethical Issues Surrounding Artificial Intelligence-Based Medical Devices

The use of AI in healthcare has sparked much debate among philosophers, ethicists, regulators and policymakers who raised concerns about the implications of such technologies. The presented scoping review captures the progression of the ethical and legal debate and the proposed ethical frameworks available concerning the use of AI-based medical technologies, capturing key themes across a wide range of medical contexts. The ethical dimensions are synthesised in order to produce a coherent ethical framework for AI-based medical technologies, highlighting how transparency, accountability, confidentiality, autonomy, trust and fairness are the top six recurrent ethical issues. The literature also highlighted how it is essential to increase ethical awareness through interdisciplinary research, such that researchers, AI developers and regulators have the necessary education/competence or networks and tools to ensure proper consideration of ethical matters in the conception and design of new AI technologies and their norms. Interdisciplinarity throughout research, regulation and implementation will help ensure AI-based medical devices are ethical, clinically effective and safe. Achieving these goals will facilitate successful translation of AI into healthcare systems, which currently is lagging behind other sectors, to ensure timely achievement of health benefits to patients and the public.

A systematic review of large language models and their implications in medical education

INTRODUCTION

In the past year, the use of large language models (LLMs) has generated significant interest and excitement because of their potential to revolutionise various fields, including medical education for aspiring physicians. Although medical students undergo a demanding educational process to become competent health care professionals, the emergence of LLMs presents a promising solution to challenges like information overload, time constraints and pressure on clinical educators. However, integrating LLMs into medical education raises critical concerns and challenges for educators, professionals and students. This systematic review aims to explore LLM applications in medical education, specifically their impact on medical students' learning experiences.

METHODS

A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science and Embase for articles discussing the applications of LLMs in medical education using selected keywords related to LLMs and medical education, from the time of ChatGPT's debut until February 2024. Only articles available in full text or English were reviewed. The credibility of each study was critically appraised by two independent reviewers.

RESULTS

The systematic review identified 166 studies, of which 40 were found by review to be relevant to the study. Among the 40 relevant studies, key themes included LLM capabilities, benefits such as personalised learning and challenges regarding content accuracy. Importantly, 42.5% of these studies specifically evaluated LLMs in a novel way, including ChatGPT, in contexts such as medical exams and clinical/biomedical information, highlighting their potential in replicating human-level performance in medical knowledge. The remaining studies broadly discussed the prospective role of LLMs in medical education, reflecting a keen interest in their future potential despite current constraints.

CONCLUSIONS

The responsible implementation of LLMs in medical education offers a promising opportunity to enhance learning experiences. However, ensuring information accuracy, emphasising skill-building and maintaining ethical safeguards are crucial. Continuous critical evaluation and interdisciplinary collaboration are essential for the appropriate integration of LLMs in medical education.

The virtual reference radiologist: comprehensive AI assistance for clinical image reading and interpretation

OBJECTIVES

Large language models (LLMs) have shown potential in radiology, but their ability to aid radiologists in interpreting imaging studies remains unexplored. We investigated the effects of a state-of-the-art LLM (GPT-4) on the radiologists' diagnostic workflow.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this retrospective study, six radiologists of different experience levels read 40 selected radiographic [n = 10], CT [n = 10], MRI [n = 10], and angiographic [n = 10] studies unassisted (session one) and assisted by GPT-4 (session two). Each imaging study was presented with demographic data, the chief complaint, and associated symptoms, and diagnoses were registered using an online survey tool. The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on diagnostic accuracy, confidence, user experience, input prompts, and generated responses was assessed. False information was registered. Linear mixed-effect models were used to quantify the factors (fixed: experience, modality, AI assistance; random: radiologist) influencing diagnostic accuracy and confidence.

RESULTS

When assessing if the correct diagnosis was among the top-3 differential diagnoses, diagnostic accuracy improved slightly from 181/240 (75.4%, unassisted) to 188/240 (78.3%, AI-assisted). Similar improvements were found when only the top differential diagnosis was considered. AI assistance was used in 77.5% of the readings. Three hundred nine prompts were generated, primarily involving differential diagnoses (59.1%) and imaging features of specific conditions (27.5%). Diagnostic confidence was significantly higher when readings were AI-assisted (p > 0.001). Twenty-three responses (7.4%) were classified as hallucinations, while two (0.6%) were misinterpretations.

CONCLUSION

Integrating GPT-4 in the diagnostic process improved diagnostic accuracy slightly and diagnostic confidence significantly. Potentially harmful hallucinations and misinterpretations call for caution and highlight the need for further safeguarding measures.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT

Using GPT-4 as a virtual assistant when reading images made six radiologists of different experience levels feel more confident and provide more accurate diagnoses; yet, GPT-4 gave factually incorrect and potentially harmful information in 7.4% of its responses.

Evaluation of ChatGPT for Patient Counseling in Kidney Stone Clinic: A Prospective Study

Introduction: The potential of large language models (LLMs) is to improve the clinical workflow and to make patient care efficient. We prospectively evaluated the performance of the LLM ChatGPT as a patient counseling tool in the urology stone clinic and validated the generated responses with those of urologists. Methods: We collected 61 questions from 12 kidney stone patients and prompted those to ChatGPT and a panel of experienced urologists (Level 1). Subsequently, the blinded responses of urologists and ChatGPT were presented to two expert urologists (Level 2) for comparative evaluation on preset domains: accuracy, relevance, empathy, completeness, and practicality. All responses were rated on a Likert scale of 1 to 10 for psychometric response evaluation. The mean difference in the scores given by the urologists (Level 2) was analyzed and interrater reliability (IRR) for the level of agreement in the responses between the urologists (Level 2) was analyzed by Cohen's kappa. Results: The mean differences in average scores between the responses from ChatGPT and urologists showed significant differences in accuracy (p < 0.001), empathy (p < 0.001), completeness (p < 0.001), and practicality (p < 0.001), except for the relevance domain (p = 0.051), with ChatGPT's responses being rated higher. The IRR analysis revealed significant agreement only in the empathy domain [k = 0.163, (0.059-0.266)]. Conclusion: We believe the introduction of ChatGPT in the clinical workflow could further optimize the information provided to patients in a busy stone clinic. In this preliminary study, ChatGPT supplemented the answers provided by the urologists, adding value to the conversation. However, in its current state, it is still not ready to be a direct source of authentic information for patients. We recommend its use as a source to build a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions bank as a prelude to developing an LLM Chatbot for patient counseling.

The Comparison of ChatGPT 3.5, Microsoft Bing, and Google Gemini for Diagnosing Cases of Neuro-Ophthalmology

OBJECTIVE

We aim to compare the capabilities of ChatGPT 3.5, Microsoft Bing, and Google Gemini in handling neuro-ophthalmological case scenarios.

METHODS

Ten randomly chosen neuro-ophthalmological cases from a publicly accessible database were used to test the accuracy and suitability of all three models, and the case details were followed by the following query: "What is the most probable diagnosis?"

RESULTS

On the basis of the accuracy of diagnosis, all three chat boxes (ChatGPT 3.5, Microsoft Bing, and Google Gemini) gave the correct diagnosis in four (40%) out of 10 cases, whereas in terms of suitability, ChatGPT 3.5, Microsoft Bing, and Google Gemini gave six (60%), five (50%), and five (50%) out of 10 case scenarios, respectively.

CONCLUSION

ChatGPT 3.5 performs better than the other two when it comes to handling neuro-ophthalmological case difficulties. These results highlight the potential benefits of developing artificial intelligence (AI) models for improving medical education and ocular diagnostics.

Current safeguards, risk mitigation, and transparency measures of large language models against the generation of health disinformation: repeated cross sectional analysis

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguards to prevent large language models (LLMs) from being misused to generate health disinformation, and to evaluate the transparency of artificial intelligence (AI) developers regarding their risk mitigation processes against observed vulnerabilities.

DESIGN

Repeated cross sectional analysis.

SETTING

Publicly accessible LLMs.

METHODS

In a repeated cross sectional analysis, four LLMs (via chatbots/assistant interfaces) were evaluated: OpenAI's GPT-4 (via ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot), Google's PaLM 2 and newly released Gemini Pro (via Bard), Anthropic's Claude 2 (via Poe), and Meta's Llama 2 (via HuggingChat). In September 2023, these LLMs were prompted to generate health disinformation on two topics: sunscreen as a cause of skin cancer and the alkaline diet as a cancer cure. Jailbreaking techniques (ie, attempts to bypass safeguards) were evaluated if required. For LLMs with observed safeguarding vulnerabilities, the processes for reporting outputs of concern were audited. 12 weeks after initial investigations, the disinformation generation capabilities of the LLMs were re-evaluated to assess any subsequent improvements in safeguards.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcome measures were whether safeguards prevented the generation of health disinformation, and the transparency of risk mitigation processes against health disinformation.

RESULTS

Claude 2 (via Poe) declined 130 prompts submitted across the two study timepoints requesting the generation of content claiming that sunscreen causes skin cancer or that the alkaline diet is a cure for cancer, even with jailbreaking attempts. GPT-4 (via Copilot) initially refused to generate health disinformation, even with jailbreaking attempts-although this was not the case at 12 weeks. In contrast, GPT-4 (via ChatGPT), PaLM 2/Gemini Pro (via Bard), and Llama 2 (via HuggingChat) consistently generated health disinformation blogs. In September 2023 evaluations, these LLMs facilitated the generation of 113 unique cancer disinformation blogs, totalling more than 40 000 words, without requiring jailbreaking attempts. The refusal rate across the evaluation timepoints for these LLMs was only 5% (7 of 150), and as prompted the LLM generated blogs incorporated attention grabbing titles, authentic looking (fake or fictional) references, fabricated testimonials from patients and clinicians, and they targeted diverse demographic groups. Although each LLM evaluated had mechanisms to report observed outputs of concern, the developers did not respond when observations of vulnerabilities were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that although effective safeguards are feasible to prevent LLMs from being misused to generate health disinformation, they were inconsistently implemented. Furthermore, effective processes for reporting safeguard problems were lacking. Enhanced regulation, transparency, and routine auditing are required to help prevent LLMs from contributing to the mass generation of health disinformation.

The role of artificial intelligence in generating original scientific research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a revolutionary technology that is finding wide application across numerous sectors. Large language models (LLMs) are an emerging subset technology of AI and have been developed to communicate using human languages. At their core, LLMs are trained with vast amounts of information extracted from the internet, including text and images. Their ability to create human-like, expert text in almost any subject means they are increasingly being used as an aid to presentation, particularly in scientific writing. However, we wondered whether LLMs could go further, generating original scientific research and preparing the results for publication. We taskedGPT-4, an LLM, to write an original pharmaceutics manuscript, on a topic that is itself novel. It was able to conceive a research hypothesis, define an experimental protocol, produce photo-realistic images of 3D printed tablets, generate believable analytical data from a range of instruments and write a convincing publication-ready manuscript with evidence of critical interpretation. The model achieved all this is less than 1 h. Moreover, the generated data were multi-modal in nature, including thermal analyses, vibrational spectroscopy and dissolution testing, demonstrating multi-disciplinary expertise in the LLM. One area in which the model failed, however, was in referencing to the literature. Since the generated experimental results appeared believable though, we suggest that LLMs could certainly play a role in scientific research but with human input, interpretation and data validation. We discuss the potential benefits and current bottlenecks for realising this ambition here.

Leveraging ChatGPT for ophthalmic education: A critical appraisal

In recent years, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed many sectors, including medical education. This editorial critically appraises the integration of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art AI language model, into ophthalmic education, focusing on its potential, limitations, and ethical considerations. The application of ChatGPT in teaching and training ophthalmologists presents an innovative method to offer real-time, customized learning experiences. Through a systematic analysis of both experimental and clinical data, this editorial examines how ChatGPT enhances engagement, understanding, and retention of complex ophthalmological concepts. The study also evaluates the efficacy of ChatGPT in simulating patient interactions and clinical scenarios, which can foster improved diagnostic and interpersonal skills. Despite the promising advantages, concerns regarding reliability, lack of personal touch, and potential biases in the AI-generated content are scrutinized. Ethical considerations concerning data privacy and potential misuse are also explored. The findings underline the need for carefully designed integration, continuous evaluation, and adherence to ethical guidelines to maximize benefits while mitigating risks. By shedding light on these multifaceted aspects, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the incorporation of AI in medical education, offering valuable insights and guidance for educators, practitioners, and policymakers aiming to leverage modern technology for enhancing ophthalmic education.

AI dietician: Unveiling the accuracy of ChatGPT's nutritional estimations

We investigate the accuracy and reliability of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence model developed by OpenAI, in providing nutritional information for dietary planning and weight management. The results have a reasonable level of accuracy, with energy values having the highest level of conformity: 97% of the artificial intelligence values fall within a 40% difference from United States Department of Agriculture data. Additionally, ChatGPT displayed consistency in its provision of nutritional data, as indicated by relatively low coefficient of variation values for each nutrient. The artificial intelligence model also proved efficient in generating a daily meal plan within a specified caloric limit, with all the meals falling within a 30% bound of the United States Department of Agriculture's caloric values. These findings suggest that ChatGPT can provide reasonably accurate and consistent nutritional information. Further research is recommended to assess the model's performance across a broader range of foods and meals..

How Reliable is ChatGPT as a Novel Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology?

Objective

The study aimed to investigate the reliability of ChatGPT's answers to medical questions, including those sourced from patients and guide recommendations. The focus was on evaluating ChatGPT's accuracy in responding to various types of infectious disease questions.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted using 200 questions sourced from social media, experts, and guidelines related to various infectious diseases like urinary tract infection, pneumonia, HIV, various types of hepatitis, COVID-19, skin infections, and tuberculosis. The questions were arranged for clarity and consistency by excluding repetitive or unclear ones. The answers were based on guidelines from reputable sources like the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), European Association for the Study of Liver Disease (EASL) and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) AIDSinfo. According to the scoring system, completely correct answers were given 1-point, and completely incorrect ones were given 4-points. To assess reproducibility, each question was posed twice on separate computers. Repeatability was determined by the consistency of the answers' scores.

Results

In the study, ChatGPT was posed with 200 questions: 107 from social media platforms and 93 from guidelines. The questions covered a range of topics: urinary tract infections (n=18 questions), pneumonia (n=22), HIV (n=39), hepatitis B and C (n=53), COVID-19 (n=11), skin and soft tissue infections (n=38), and tuberculosis (n=19). The lowest accuracy was 72% for urinary tract infections. ChatGPT answered 92% of social media platform questions correctly (scored 1-point) versus 69% of guideline questions (p=0.001; OR=5.48, 95% CI=2.29-13.11).

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence is widely used in the medical field by both healthcare professionals and patients. Although ChatGPT answers questions from social media platforms quite properly, we recommend that healthcare professionals be conscientious when using it.

Misinformation on resuscitation and first aid as an uncontrolled problem that demands close attention: a brief scoping review

OBJECTIVES

Misinformation is currently recognised by the World Health Organization as an apparent threat to public health. This study aimed to provide an outline of published evidence on misinformation related to the potentially life-saving interventions - first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

STUDY DESIGN

A scoping review.

METHODS

The review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. English-language publications describing original studies that evaluated the quality of publicly available information on first aid and/or CPR were included without limitations to the year of publication.

RESULTS

Forty-four original studies published between 1982 and 2023 were reviewed. Annual number of publications varied from 0 to 6. The studies have focused on the evaluation of information concerning initial care of cardiac arrest, choking, heart attack, poisoning, burns, and other emergencies. Forty three studies (97.7 %) have reported varying frequencies of misinformation, when public sources, including websites, YouTube videos, and modern artificial intelligence-based chatbots, omitted life-saving instructions on first aid or CPR or contained incorrect information that contradicted relevant international guidelines. Eleven studies (25.0 %) have also revealed potentially harmful advice, which, if followed by an unsuspecting person, may cause direct injury or death of a victim.

CONCLUSIONS

Misinformation concerning CPR and first aid cannot be ignored and demands close attention from relevant stakeholders to mitigate its harmful impacts. More studies are urgently needed to determine optimal methods for detecting and measuring misinformation, to understand mechanisms that drive its spread, and to develop effective measures to correct and prevent misinformation.

Utility of ChatGPT for Automated Creation of Patient Education Handouts: An Application in Neuro-Ophthalmology

BACKGROUND

Patient education in ophthalmology poses a challenge for physicians because of time and resource limitations. ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco) may assist with automating production of patient handouts on common neuro-ophthalmic diseases.

METHODS

We queried ChatGPT-3.5 to generate 51 patient education handouts across 17 conditions. We devised the "Quality of Generated Language Outputs for Patients" (QGLOP) tool to assess handouts on the domains of accuracy/comprehensiveness, bias, currency, and tone, each scored out of 4 for a total of 16. A fellowship-trained neuro-ophthalmologist scored each passage. Handout readability was assessed using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), which estimates years of education required to understand a text.

RESULTS

The QGLOP scores for accuracy, bias, currency, and tone were found to be 2.43, 3, 3.43, and 3.02 respectively. The mean QGLOP score was 11.9 [95% CI 8.98, 14.8] out of 16 points, indicating a performance of 74.4% [95% CI 56.1%, 92.5%]. The mean SMOG across responses as 10.9 [95% CI 9.36, 12.4] years of education.

CONCLUSIONS

The mean QGLOP score suggests that a fellowship-trained ophthalmologist may have at-least a moderate level of satisfaction with the write-up quality conferred by ChatGPT. This still requires a final review and editing before dissemination. Comparatively, the rarer 5% of responses collectively on either extreme would require very mild or extensive revision. Also, the mean SMOG score exceeded the accepted upper limits of grade 8 reading level for health-related patient handouts. In its current iteration, ChatGPT should be used as an efficiency tool to generate an initial draft for the neuro-ophthalmologist, who may then refine the accuracy and readability for a lay readership.

Surviving ChatGPT in healthcare

At the dawn of of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the emergence of large language models such as ChatGPT show promise in revolutionizing healthcare by improving patient care, expanding medical access, and optimizing clinical processes. However, their integration into healthcare systems requires careful consideration of potential risks, such as inaccurate medical advice, patient privacy violations, the creation of falsified documents or images, overreliance on AGI in medical education, and the perpetuation of biases. It is crucial to implement proper oversight and regulation to address these risks, ensuring the safe and effective incorporation of AGI technologies into healthcare systems. By acknowledging and mitigating these challenges, AGI can be harnessed to enhance patient care, medical knowledge, and healthcare processes, ultimately benefiting society as a whole.

Transformer Models in Healthcare: A Survey and Thematic Analysis of Potentials, Shortcomings and Risks

Large Language Models (LLMs) such as General Pretrained Transformer (GPT) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), which use transformer model architectures, have significantly advanced artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Recognized for their ability to capture associative relationships between words based on shared context, these models are poised to transform healthcare by improving diagnostic accuracy, tailoring treatment plans, and predicting patient outcomes. However, there are multiple risks and potentially unintended consequences associated with their use in healthcare applications. This study, conducted with 28 participants using a qualitative approach, explores the benefits, shortcomings, and risks of using transformer models in healthcare. It analyses responses to seven open-ended questions using a simplified thematic analysis. Our research reveals seven benefits, including improved operational efficiency, optimized processes and refined clinical documentation. Despite these benefits, there are significant concerns about the introduction of bias, auditability issues and privacy risks. Challenges include the need for specialized expertise, the emergence of ethical dilemmas and the potential reduction in the human element of patient care. For the medical profession, risks include the impact on employment, changes in the patient-doctor dynamic, and the need for extensive training in both system operation and data interpretation.

Fake news research trends, linkages to generative artificial intelligence and sustainable development goals

In the digital age, where information is a cornerstone for decision-making, social media's not-so-regulated environment has intensified the prevalence of fake news, with significant implications for both individuals and societies. This study employs a bibliometric analysis of a large corpus of 9678 publications spanning 2013-2022 to scrutinize the evolution of fake news research, identifying leading authors, institutions, and nations. Three thematic clusters emerge: Disinformation in social media, COVID-19-induced infodemics, and techno-scientific advancements in auto-detection. This work introduces three novel contributions: 1) a pioneering mapping of fake news research to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), indicating its influence on areas like health (SDG 3), peace (SDG 16), and industry (SDG 9); 2) the utilization of Prominence percentile metrics to discern critical and economically prioritized research areas, such as misinformation and object detection in deep learning; and 3) an evaluation of generative AI's role in the propagation and realism of fake news, raising pressing ethical concerns. These contributions collectively provide a comprehensive overview of the current state and future trajectories of fake news research, offering valuable insights for academia, policymakers, and industry.

Automating untruths: ChatGPT, self-managed medication abortion, and the threat of misinformation in a post-Roe world

Background

ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot that uses natural language processing to understand and execute prompts in a human-like manner. While the chatbot has become popular as a source of information among the public, experts have expressed concerns about the number of false and misleading statements made by ChatGPT. Many people search online for information about self-managed medication abortion, which has become even more common following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It is likely that ChatGPT is also being used as a source of this information; however, little is known about its accuracy.

Objective

To assess the accuracy of ChatGPT responses to common questions regarding self-managed abortion safety and the process of using abortion pills.

Methods

We prompted ChatGPT with 65 questions about self-managed medication abortion, which produced approximately 11,000 words of text. We qualitatively coded all data in MAXQDA and performed thematic analysis.

Results

ChatGPT responses correctly described clinician-managed medication abortion as both safe and effective. In contrast, self-managed medication abortion was inaccurately described as dangerous and associated with an increase in the risk of complications, which was attributed to the lack of clinician supervision.

Conclusion

ChatGPT repeatedly provided responses that overstated the risk of complications associated with self-managed medication abortion in ways that directly contradict the expansive body of evidence demonstrating that self-managed medication abortion is both safe and effective. The chatbot's tendency to perpetuate health misinformation and associated stigma regarding self-managed medication abortions poses a threat to public health and reproductive autonomy.

What is the impact of artificial intelligence-based chatbots on infodemic management?

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have the potential to revolutionize online health information-seeking behavior by delivering up-to-date information on a wide range of health topics. They generate personalized responses to user queries through their ability to process extensive amounts of text, analyze trends, and generate natural language responses. Chatbots can manage infodemic by debunking online health misinformation on a large scale. Nevertheless, system accuracy remains technically challenging. Chatbots require training on diverse and representative datasets, security to protect against malicious actors, and updates to keep up-to-date on scientific progress. Therefore, although AI chatbots hold significant potential in assisting infodemic management, it is essential to approach their outputs with caution due to their current limitations.

Cross-platform social dynamics: an analysis of ChatGPT and COVID-19 vaccine conversations

The role of social media in information dissemination and agenda-setting has significantly expanded in recent years. By offering real-time interactions, online platforms have become invaluable tools for studying societal responses to significant events as they unfold. However, online reactions to external developments are influenced by various factors, including the nature of the event and the online environment. This study examines the dynamics of public discourse on digital platforms to shed light on this issue. We analyzed over 12 million posts and news articles related to two significant events: the release of ChatGPT in 2022 and the global discussions about COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. Data was collected from multiple platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and GDELT. We employed topic modeling techniques to uncover the distinct thematic emphases on each platform, which reflect their specific features and target audiences. Additionally, sentiment analysis revealed various public perceptions regarding the topics studied. Lastly, we compared the evolution of engagement across platforms, unveiling unique patterns for the same topic. Notably, discussions about COVID-19 vaccines spread more rapidly due to the immediacy of the subject, while discussions about ChatGPT, despite its technological importance, propagated more gradually.

Ethical Concerns About ChatGPT in Healthcare: A Useful Tool or the Tombstone of Original and Reflective Thinking?

Artificial intelligence (AI), the uprising technology of computer science aiming to create digital systems with human behavior and intelligence, seems to have invaded almost every field of modern life. Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a textual AI application capable of creating human-like responses characterized by original language and high coherence. Although AI-based language models have demonstrated impressive capabilities in healthcare, ChatGPT has received controversial annotations from the scientific and academic communities. This chatbot already appears to have a massive impact as an educational tool for healthcare professionals and transformative potential for clinical practice and could lead to dramatic changes in scientific research. Nevertheless, rational concerns were raised regarding whether the pre-trained, AI-generated text would be a menace not only for original thinking and new scientific ideas but also for academic and research integrity, as it gets more and more difficult to distinguish its AI origin due to the coherence and fluency of the produced text. This short review aims to summarize the potential applications and the consequential implications of ChatGPT in the three critical pillars of medicine: education, research, and clinical practice. In addition, this paper discusses whether the current use of this chatbot is in compliance with the ethical principles for the safe use of AI in healthcare, as determined by the World Health Organization. Finally, this review highlights the need for an updated ethical framework and the increased vigilance of healthcare stakeholders to harvest the potential benefits and limit the imminent dangers of this new innovative technology.

Redefining Virtual Assistants in Health Care: The Future With Large Language Models

This editorial explores the evolving and transformative role of large language models (LLMs) in enhancing the capabilities of virtual assistants (VAs) in the health care domain, highlighting recent research on the performance of VAs and LLMs in health care information sharing. Focusing on recent research, this editorial unveils the marked improvement in the accuracy and clinical relevance of responses from LLMs, such as GPT-4, compared to current VAs, especially in addressing complex health care inquiries, like those related to postpartum depression. The improved accuracy and clinical relevance with LLMs mark a paradigm shift in digital health tools and VAs. Furthermore, such LLM applications have the potential to dynamically adapt and be integrated into existing VA platforms, offering cost-effective, scalable, and inclusive solutions. These suggest a significant increase in the applicable range of VA applications, as well as the increased value, risk, and impact in health care, moving toward more personalized digital health ecosystems. However, alongside these advancements, it is necessary to develop and adhere to ethical guidelines, regulatory frameworks, governance principles, and privacy and safety measures. We need a robust interdisciplinary collaboration to navigate the complexities of safely and effectively integrating LLMs into health care applications, ensuring that these emerging technologies align with the diverse needs and ethical considerations of the health care domain.

ChatGPT sits the DFPH exam: large language model performance and potential to support public health learning

BACKGROUND

Artificial intelligence-based large language models, like ChatGPT, have been rapidly assessed for both risks and potential in health-related assessment and learning. However, their applications in public health professional exams have not yet been studied. We evaluated the performance of ChatGPT in part of the Faculty of Public Health's Diplomat exam (DFPH).

METHODS

ChatGPT was provided with a bank of 119 publicly available DFPH question parts from past papers. Its performance was assessed by two active DFPH examiners. The degree of insight and level of understanding apparently displayed by ChatGPT was also assessed.

RESULTS

ChatGPT passed 3 of 4 papers, surpassing the current pass rate. It performed best on questions relating to research methods. Its answers had a high floor. Examiners identified ChatGPT answers with 73.6% accuracy and human answers with 28.6% accuracy. ChatGPT provided a mean of 3.6 unique insights per question and appeared to demonstrate a required level of learning on 71.4% of occasions.

CONCLUSIONS

Large language models have rapidly increasing potential as a learning tool in public health education. However, their factual fallibility and the difficulty of distinguishing their responses from that of humans pose potential threats to teaching and learning.

Neurocognitive correlates of semantic memory navigation in Parkinson's disease

Cognitive studies on Parkinson's disease (PD) reveal abnormal semantic processing. Most research, however, fails to indicate which conceptual properties are most affected and capture patients' neurocognitive profiles. Here, we asked persons with PD, healthy controls, and individuals with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, as a disease control group) to read concepts (e.g., 'sun') and list their features (e.g., hot). Responses were analyzed in terms of ten word properties (including concreteness, imageability, and semantic variability), used for group-level comparisons, subject-level classification, and brain-behavior correlations. PD (but not bvFTD) patients produced more concrete and imageable words than controls, both patterns being associated with overall cognitive status. PD and bvFTD patients showed reduced semantic variability, an anomaly which predicted semantic inhibition outcomes. Word-property patterns robustly classified PD (but not bvFTD) patients and correlated with disease-specific hypoconnectivity along the sensorimotor and salience networks. Fine-grained semantic assessments, then, can reveal distinct neurocognitive signatures of PD.

May ChatGPT be a tool producing medical information for common inflammatory bowel disease patients' questions? An evidence-controlled analysis

Artificial intelligence is increasingly entering everyday healthcare. Large language model (LLM) systems such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) have become potentially accessible to everyone, including patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). However, significant ethical issues and pitfalls exist in innovative LLM tools. The hype generated by such systems may lead to unweighted patient trust in these systems. Therefore, it is necessary to understand whether LLMs (trendy ones, such as ChatGPT) can produce plausible medical information (MI) for patients. This review examined ChatGPT's potential to provide MI regarding questions commonly addressed by patients with IBD to their gastroenterologists. From the review of the outputs provided by ChatGPT, this tool showed some attractive potential while having significant limitations in updating and detailing information and providing inaccurate information in some cases. Further studies and refinement of the ChatGPT, possibly aligning the outputs with the leading medical evidence provided by reliable databases, are needed.