The future landscape of large language models in medicine

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) are artificial intelligence (AI) tools specifically trained to process and generate text. LLMs attracted substantial public attention after OpenAI's ChatGPT was made publicly available in November 2022. LLMs can often answer questions, summarize, paraphrase and translate text on a level that is nearly indistinguishable from human capabilities. The possibility to actively interact with models like ChatGPT makes LLMs attractive tools in various fields, including medicine. While these models have the potential to democratize medical knowledge and facilitate access to healthcare, they could equally distribute misinformation and exacerbate scientific misconduct due to a lack of accountability and transparency. In this article, we provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of the potentials and limitations of LLMs in clinical practice, medical research and medical education.

Fig. 1. Large language models (LLMs) in medicine.

a Simplified design of the architecture behind ChatGPT, including training, iterations of reinforcement learning by human feedback, choice of available model and implementation of guardrails to improve safety. b Overview of potential applications for LLMs in medicine, including patient care, research, and education. c Limitations of LLMs in their current state.