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.