Potential Use of Artificial Intelligence in Infectious Disease: Take ChatGPT as an Example

Abstract

Over the past month, a new AI model called Chatbot Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), has received enormous attention in the media and scientific communities due to its ability to process and respond to commands in a humanistic fashion. As reported, five days after its launch, the number of registered users of ChatGPT exceeded one million, and its monthly active users had exceeded 100 million two months later, making it the most rapidly growing consumer application in history. The advent of ChatGPT has further brought about new ideas and challenges in the realm of infectious disease. In view of this, in order to evaluate the potential use of ChatGPT in clinical practice and scientific research of infectious disease, we conducted a brief online survey by using the publicly available ChatGPT webpage. Also, the present study also talks about the relevant social and ethical issues related to this program.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; ChatGPT; Chatbots; Infectious disease.

Fig. 1

Answers from ChatGPT when we asked “What questions should I ask my patients to make sure they fully understand the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines?” and “What clinical notes should patients be paid attention to after recovering from severe COVID-19”