DR. ChatGPT: A NEW PARTNER IN DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY

A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston tested OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 against 50 doctors, ranging from residents to senior physicians, on diagnosing real patient cases. The study used a methodology for evaluating clinical reasoning, scoring participants on their ability to synthesize patient data, generate differential diagnoses, and justify their conclusions.

The results were striking: ChatGPT alone achieved an impressive 90% diagnostic accuracy, compared to 75% for doctors working independently. Even when doctors had access to the chatbot as an assistive tool, their accuracy only slightly improved to 76%.

This small gap of improvement may be explained by two factors:

- Many doctors held firmly to their initial diagnoses, even when ChatGPT suggested potentially better alternatives.

- Some treated the chatbot like a basic search engine, missing its ability to analyze complex cases holistically.

Interestingly, the latter point may highlight the strength of AI in providing cohesive analyses of complex data. It may also help address the challenges of navigating fragmented medical disciplines and consulting multiple experts to reach a conclusive diagnosis

AI tools like ChatGPT, with their ability to process entire case histories and effectively aggregate data across different domains of knowledge, hold the potential to close these gaps and enhance diagnostic accuracy.

How would you use "Dr." ChatGPT? Apart from being tools for medical professionals, could AI empower patients to become experts on their conditions and support doctors in their work? And how would we "fact-check" in a field of hypotheses...? We are curious about your thoughts...