BALTIMORE — A study, with the help of a local researcher, shows AI could make a real difference in doctor's offices.
Mark Dredze, a Johns Hopkins associate professor, studied with colleagues from around the country the software transforming the world: AI, and what it means for physicians.
"We learned that, first of all, the answers the AI gave us were pretty good," said Dredze, "but surprisingly, they’re actually preferred by licensed medical professionals to the answers that we were seeing on the forum."
The study pulled online forum questions asked to real doctors, and asked ChatGPT the same questions. In many cases, evaluators found AI answers had greater quality and empathy than a human doctor's.
While it won't replace your local practitioner, it could be a helpful new tool.
"This really opened our eyes to the potential of this technology," Dredze added. "Doctors get lots and lots of questions, and while they care a lot about their patients and they want to put the time in to answering those questions, they don’t always have the time to provide the level of detail necessary."
If you’re thinking about booting up ChatGPT right now for this, just hang on for a moment. Dredze says AI can help doctors with their workflow, but not to give yourself direct medical advice.
"You should not go to AI systems for medical advice. You don’t know what they’re going to give you - and just because they seem to do a good job, doesn’t mean you have the ability to figure out when they’re giving you something reliable vs something really harmful," Dredze said.
Dredze says human doctors are always going to have a place. As he points out, there’s a certain level of accountability when you walk into a doctor’s office and speak to a human; that's not quite the case with AI.
But for the things doctors don't have enough hours in the day for:
"Maybe AI can fill that role, where a doctor might say 'here are the directions I’m giving you,' and the AI is going to supplement it to give you all these details that a doctor may not have the time in order to deliver to the patient," said Dredze.
