Researchers discuss the potential use of large language models like ChatGPT in clinical radiology, highlighting benefits such as improved patient education and support for radiologists. They suggest using chatbots to generate simplified imaging reports, provide pre-procedure information, and aid in radiology education. However, limitations and ethical concerns, including transparency, data privacy, and the risk of replacing human expertise, must be considered. Separate research raises questions about ChatGPT’s efficacy in medical education for gastroenterology.
A recent opinion piece in the Journal of the American College of Radiology delves into the potential impact of large language models (LLMs), like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in clinical radiology. The discussion paper examines the benefits, drawbacks, and ethical implications of utilizing AI-powered chatbots in radiology.
According to the authors, ChatGPT and similar LLMs have the potential to revolutionize the field by acting as assistive tools for radiologists and enhancing patient-centered care. The authors highlight several potential advantages, including improved patient education through simplified imaging reports generated by chatbots. By providing accessible information, patient understanding, satisfaction, and outcomes may be improved.
The authors also suggest that ChatGPT can assist patients before radiologic-guided procedures by answering questions, providing details about upcoming procedures, assessing patient readiness, and offering reassurance and support.
In addition, chatbots could aid in the education and training of radiologists. LLMs could be trained on radiology reports and images to generate simulated patient cases for interpretation by trainees, allowing them to practice interpreting a wider range of cases.
Furthermore, ChatGPT’s capabilities extend to generating content and assisting with scientific article writing. The technology can help researchers with literature searches, content organization, graph and table generation, style adaptations, and translation into multiple languages.
However, the authors emphasize that stakeholders must carefully consider the limitations and ethical implications associated with using LLMs in healthcare settings. Concerns include transparency regarding how LLMs operate, privacy and data protection, accuracy and reliability challenges, ethical implications of AI-generated content in research, and ensuring that chatbots complement rather than replace human judgment and expertise.
It’s worth noting that recent research has also shed light on the potential limitations of ChatGPT. In particular, ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4 did not meet the passing score on multiple-choice self-assessment tests for the American College of Gastroenterology, raising questions about their utility in medical education for gastroenterology.
The authors highlight that ChatGPT partially contributed to writing the paper itself, showcasing the capabilities of the technology.
