AI, ChatGPT, and Its Role in Clinical Decision Making

Artificial intelligence is an innovation that represents an opportunity for change in many industries. Reports show that nearly half of businesses with supply chain or IT components expect AI to be a critical factor in their workflow by 2025. In the medical device industry, AI has had a similar impact, enabling providers to use intelligent monitoring systems that help them manage their patients’ health, including dental health, with minimal in-person intervention.

But “AI” is an umbrella term, under which many different devices and applications struggle to prove their worth in a changing industry. One such application is ChatGPT, which stands for “Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer.” This program, launched by OpenAI in November 2022, provides users with a conversational AI that can respond to questions and scenarios with a human-like thought process.

For medical professionals interested in expanding their use of AI-enabled tools, the question is: can a program like ChatGPT enrich the dental care experience? In a broader sense, what are the clinical applications of AI? Continue reading to learn more about how this trending technology could enhance or inhibit the patient experience.

Is ChatGPT a Viable Clinical Resource?

With any new technology, its creators sell up its features while its users sell down its potential. The task for dental offices such as ours becomes one of practicality vs innovation. We are always looking for new tools to integrate into our practice to make our patients’ experiences better. Yet, we don’t want to alter our practices without first demonstrating that new technology provides a tangible improvement.

To do this, we asked whether ChatGPT and other AI programs could be trusted with decision-making in a clinical setting. ChatGPT has access to the internet, so it could conceivably conduct hours of research in seconds. If viable, such a program could potentially replace the traditional model by which dental providers generate a treatment plan based on the available evidence, which normally includes a literature review, critical appraisal, data research, and collaboration with numerous studies.

To learn more, we asked the one “person” who knows everything there is to know about the capabilities of ChatGPT: ChatGPT itself.

What the AI Had to Say

The goal of any treatment plan is to provide an evidence-based solution to a medical condition. If ChatGPT can expedite the process, patients could conceivably receive more knowledgeable advice than a human provider could give without spending many hours comparing their findings. To learn whether this was possible, we posed the question to ChatGPT itself, which in the case of an AI is a valid way to assess its capabilities.

In response to the question of whether it could be trusted to generate scientific evidence required to make a decision in a clinical setting, ChatGPT responded:

‍"As an AI language model, my design is to generate text based on patterns and relationships learnt from the data I was trained on. Although I can produce text related to scientific evidence and clinical decision-making, it's crucial to understand that I don't serve as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

‍When considering the use of text generated by AI language models for clinical decision-making, it is paramount to exercise discernment and critically evaluate the provided information. While models like GPT have demonstrated tremendous potential in natural language processing tasks, they are not flawless and could potentially make errors or provide misleading or inaccurate information.

‍Therefore, consultation with qualified medical professionals and reliance on peer-reviewed scientific literature remain indispensable when making clinical decisions. AI language models like GPT could serve as a supplementary tool to inform clinical decision-making, but they should never be the sole source of information or guidance."

What Can AI Bring to a Dental Practice?

In other words, ChatGPT (and its creators) cannot take responsibility for giving medical advice due to the unpredictable factors involved and the potential liabilities. However, it can collate information based on certain parameters, if the user knows how to make the right inquiries.

Notably, ChatGPT’s knowledge currently only goes up to 2021, though it can search the internet for more recent findings. These programs have demonstrated amazing capabilities in processing language, but they cannot yet flawlessly interpret the intent of certain writing, particularly in case studies. Mistakes in the wording of the request could lead to misleading information.

This is why consulting with qualified medical professionals and relying on a human’s comprehension of peer-reviewed scientific literature remains the unchallenged standard when it comes to clinical decision-making. AI language models such as ChatGPT can serve as useful supplementary tools to help practices stay informed, but they should never be the main way that a dental office researches their patients’ conditions or plans their treatments.

The Takeaway for Dental Practitioners and Their Patients

The AI itself provided useful insight when we questioned its usefulness, which positively frames the awareness of these programs in terms of their limitations when used in a clinical setting. Healthcare professionals should be aware of these limitations when integrating AI-powered tools like ChatGPT into their practices, using them as supplements rather than replacements for traditional evidence synthesis.

AI programs can make judgments based on the data you give them, but only humans can think outside of the box to create novel solutions to complex problems. We anticipate the further development of powerful AI tools like ChatGPT, and we are keeping an open mind about their potential usefulness in a clinical setting. However, it’s doubtful that any such tool will ever replace the judgment of an experienced care provider when planning complex dental treatments. Instead, integrating the two methods while relying on human intuition is the best way to provide comprehensive care.