Differentiating hype from practical applications of large language models in medicine -- a primer for healthcare professionals
This is an incremental primer aimed at healthcare professionals to guide the responsible integration of LLMs in medical training, practice, and research.
The paper addresses the challenge of distinguishing between exaggerated promises and practical uses of large language models (LLMs) in medicine, highlighting the need for careful application to leverage benefits like improved care speed and accuracy while mitigating risks such as misinformation and data privacy breaches.
The medical ecosystem consists of the training of new clinicians and researchers, the practice of clinical medicine, and areas of adjacent research. There are many aspects of these domains that could benefit from the application of task automation and programmatic assistance. Machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques, including large language models (LLMs), have been promised to deliver on healthcare innovation, improving care speed and accuracy, and reducing the burden on staff for manual interventions. However, LLMs have no understanding of objective truth that is based in reality. They also represent real risks to the disclosure of protected information when used by clinicians and researchers. The use of AI in medicine in general, and the deployment of LLMs in particular, therefore requires careful consideration and thoughtful application to reap the benefits of these technologies while avoiding the dangers in each context.