A study has found that the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT can outperform doctors in providing high-quality and empathetic advice to patients' questions.
Researchers at the University of California published the findings in JAMA Internal Medicine.
They compared written responses from doctors and ChatGPT to real-world health questions. A panel of licensed healthcare professionals preferred ChatGPT’s responses 79 per cent of the time and rated its responses as higher quality and more empathetic.
Dr John W Ayers from the Qualcomm Institute within the University of California San Diego, who led the study, said: “The opportunities for improving healthcare with AI are massive.
“AI-augmented care is the future of medicine.”
While the study shows the potential for AI assistants to be integrated into health systems to improve doctors' responses to patient questions, the researchers emphasised that AI assistants such as ChatGPT are not intended to replace doctors.
Instead, they believe that doctors working together with technologies like ChatGPT may revolutionise medicine.
To obtain a large and diverse sample of healthcare questions and doctors' answers that do not contain identifiable personal information, the team turned to the social media platform Reddit, where millions of patients publicly post medical questions, to which doctors respond.
The subreddit r/AskDocs has about 452,000 members who post medical questions, with verified healthcare professionals submitting answers.
While some may wonder if question-answer exchanges on social media are a fair test, the researchers noted that the exchanges were reflective of their clinical experience.
The team randomly sampled 195 exchanges from AskDocs where a verified doctor responded to a public question.
The team provided the original question to ChatGPT and asked it to author a response.
A panel of three licensed healthcare professionals assessed each question and the corresponding responses and were blinded to whether the response originated from a doctor or ChatGPT.
The panel of healthcare professional evaluators preferred ChatGPT responses to doctor responses 79 per cent of the time.
ChatGPT responses were also rated significantly higher in quality than doctors' responses, and were more empathetic.
Dr Aaron Goodman, an associate clinical professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and study co-author, said: “ChatGPT is a prescription I’d like to give to my inbox.
“The tool will transform the way I support my patients.”
While the study shows promise for AI assistants in healthcare, the researchers emphasised the need for integrating AI assistants into healthcare messaging to be done in the context of a randomised controlled trial to judge how the use of AI assistants affects results for both doctors and patients.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
