If it grins like a cat, disappears like a cat, and speaks riddles like a cat
Before writing this essay, it was a common belief in our department that ChatGPT was looking at the knowledge currently available and considering “all of the internet”. However, ChatGPT is a text-based AI. It is not a tool of knowledge, but a tool of text. On the one hand, in the specific context of writing in the field of clinical pharmacology, our initial finding is that ChatGPT is unreliable because it generates nonsensical references and postulates, and it is impossible to reverse engineer an answer – the very essence of scientific method. On the other hand, ChatGPT is currently leading a revolution in how we use AI technology, and its impact within health care is yet to be determined.
According to Gartner’s hype cycle8, when a new technology is released, in the first wave of hype, the possibilities appears limitless. The media talks nonstop about how AI and robots will disrupt entire professions. After a while, when the new technology has been tested on real life applications, its underlying issues and limitations are discovered, and the hype falls drastically. In the plateau phase, the technology is implemented, often in a much narrower frame of use than we first dreamed of.
After our preliminary explorations, we are not convinced that ChatGPT is going to replace us, but we do believe it is likely that clinical pharmacologists who speak ChatGPT fluently will have a substantial advantage. AI as a whole has strong potential as a tool in clinical pharmacology – for instance as a research support tool, e.g. as writing support or in epidemiological data analysis. It should not, though, act as a substitute for the extensive literature-review, wealth of cross-references and skeptical mind of a clinical pharmacologist.
As clinical pharmacologists, we are cautiously optimistic and enthusiastically curious about the future of AI within our field, and we encourage our peers worldwide to share their experiences. AI has immense potential to change medical writing, drug information services, clinical pharmacology, and the whole medical profession in fundamental ways and we are hopeful it is for the better.