Impact of large language model ChatGPT on medical research_West China Medical Journal

Authors：

LI Shuang’er , JIAO Bo ,  CHEN Chan

Department of Anesthesiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P. R. China;

Corresponding author：

CHEN Chan, Email: xychenchan@gmail.com

Keywords：

ChatGPT; large language model; medical research; drug development

DOI：

10.7507/1002-0179.202311289

Video：

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As one of the hot topics in the field of artificial intelligence, large language models are being applied in various domains, including medical research. ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), as one of the most representative and leading large language models, has gained popularity among researchers due to its logical coherence and natural language generation capabilities. This article reviews the applications and limitations of ChatGPT in three key areas of medical research: scientific writing, data analysis, and drug development. Furthermore, it explores future development trends and provides recommendations for improvement, offering a reference for the application of ChatGPT in medical research.

Citation： LI Shuang’er, JIAO Bo, CHEN Chan. Impact of large language model ChatGPT on medical research. West China Medical Journal, 2025, 40(3): 495-499. doi: 10.7507/1002-0179.202311289 Copy

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15.	Huang J, Tan M. The role of ChatGPT in scientific communication: writing better scientific review articles. Am J Cancer Res, 2023, 13(4): 1148-1154.
16.	Else H. Abstracts written by ChatGPT fool scientists. Nature, 2023, 613(7944): 423.
17.	Guckenberger M, Andratschke N, Ahmadsei M, et al. Potential of ChatGPT in facilitating research in radiation oncology?. Radiother Oncol, 2023, 188: 109894.
18.	Ordak M. ChatGPT’s skills in statistical analysis using the example of allergology: do we have reason for concern?. Healthcare (Basel), 2023, 11(18): 2554.
19.	Gawehn E, Hiss JA, Schneider G. Deep learning in drug discovery. Mol Inform, 2016, 35(1): 3-14.
20.	Gómez-Bombarelli R, Wei JN, Duvenaud D, et al. Automatic chemical design using a data-driven continuous representation of molecules. ACS Cent Sci, 2018, 4(2): 268-276.
21.	Chakraborty C, Bhattacharya M, Lee SS. Artificial intelligence enabled ChatGPT and large language models in drug target discovery, drug discovery, and development. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids, 2023, 33: 866-868.
22.	Zhao A, Wu Y. Future implications of ChatGPT in pharmaceutical industry: drug discovery and development. Front Pharmacol, 2023, 14: 1194216.
23.	Savage N. Drug discovery companies are customizing ChatGPT: here’s how. Nat Biotechnol, 2023, 41(5): 585-586.
24.	Owens B. How Nature readers are using ChatGPT. Nature, 2023, 615(7950): 20.
25.	Morath B, Chiriac U, Jaszkowski E, et al. Performance and risks of ChatGPT used in drug information: an exploratory real-world analysis. Eur J Hosp Pharm, 2024, 31(6): 491-497.
26.	Yeo YH, Samaan JS, Ng WH, et al. Assessing the performance of ChatGPT in answering questions regarding cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Mol Hepatol, 2023, 29(3): 721-732.
27.	Rusandi MA, Ahman, Saripah I, et al. No worries with ChatGPT: building bridges between artificial intelligence and education with critical thinking soft skills. J Public Health (Oxf), 2023, 45(3): e602-e603.
28.	Khlaif ZN, Mousa A, Hattab MK, et al. The potential and concerns of using AI in scientific research: ChatGPT performance evaluation. JMIR Med Educ, 2023, 9: e47049.
29.	Stokel-Walker C, Van Noorden R. What ChatGPT and generative AI mean for science. Nature, 2023, 614(7947): 214-216.
30.	Liebrenz M, Schleifer R, Buadze A, et al. Generating scholarly content with ChatGPT: ethical challenges for medical publishing. Lancet Digit Health, 2023, 5(3): e105-e106.
31.	Flanagin A, Bibbins-Domingo K, Berkwits M, et al. Nonhuman “authors” and implications for the integrity of scientific publication and medical knowledge. JAMA, 2023, 329(8): 637-639.
32.	Thorp HH. ChatGPT is fun, but not an author. Science, 2023, 379(6630): 313.

1. Ruksakulpiwat S, Kumar A, Ajibade A. Using ChatGPT in medical research: current status and future directions. J Multidiscip Healthc, 2023, 16: 1513-1520.
2. Eysenbach G. The role of ChatGPT, generative language models, and artificial intelligence in medical education: a conversation with ChatGPT and a call for papers. JMIR Med Educ, 2023, 9: e46885.
3. Berşe S, Akça K, Dirgar E, et al. The role and potential contributions of the artificial intelligence language model ChatGPT. Ann Biomed Eng, 2024, 52(2): 130-133.
4. Thirunavukarasu AJ, Ting DSJ, Elangovan K, et al. Large language models in medicine. Nat Med, 2023, 29(8): 1930-1940.
5. Jelinek F. Continuous speech recognition by statistical methods. Proc IEEE, 1976, 64(4): 532-556.
6. Yoshua B, Réjean D, Pascal V, et al. A neural probabilistic language model. J Mach Learn Res, 2002, 3: 1137-1155.
7. Chien JT, Ku YC. Bayesian recurrent neural network for language modeling. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst, 2016, 27(2): 361-374.
8. Vaswani A, Shazeer N, Parmar N, et al. Attention is all you need//Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 30: Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2017. Long Beach, 2017: 5998-6008.
9. 钱力, 刘熠, 张智雄, 等. ChatGPT 的技术基础分析. 数据分析与知识发现, 2023, 7(3): 6-15.
10. Gilson A, Safranek CW, Huang T, et al. How does chatgpt perform on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)? The implications of large language models for medical education and knowledge assessment. JMIR Med Educ, 2023, 9: e45312.
11. Rao A, Kim J, Kamineni M, et al. Evaluating GPT as an adjunct for radiologic decision making: GPT-4 versus GPT-3. 5 in a breast imaging pilot. J Am Coll Radiol, 2023, 20(10): 990-997.
12. Liu J, Wang C, Liu S. Utility of ChatGPT in clinical practice. J Med Internet Res, 2023, 25: e48568.
13. MacDonald C, Adeloye D, Sheikh A, et al. Can ChatGPT draft a research article? An example of population-level vaccine effectiveness analysis. J Glob Health, 2023, 13: 01003.
14. Blanco-González A, Cabezón A, Seco-González A, et al. The role of AI in drug discovery: challenges, opportunities, and strategies. Pharmaceuticals (Basel), 2023, 16(6): 891.
15. Huang J, Tan M. The role of ChatGPT in scientific communication: writing better scientific review articles. Am J Cancer Res, 2023, 13(4): 1148-1154.
16. Else H. Abstracts written by ChatGPT fool scientists. Nature, 2023, 613(7944): 423.
17. Guckenberger M, Andratschke N, Ahmadsei M, et al. Potential of ChatGPT in facilitating research in radiation oncology?. Radiother Oncol, 2023, 188: 109894.
18. Ordak M. ChatGPT’s skills in statistical analysis using the example of allergology: do we have reason for concern?. Healthcare (Basel), 2023, 11(18): 2554.
19. Gawehn E, Hiss JA, Schneider G. Deep learning in drug discovery. Mol Inform, 2016, 35(1): 3-14.
20. Gómez-Bombarelli R, Wei JN, Duvenaud D, et al. Automatic chemical design using a data-driven continuous representation of molecules. ACS Cent Sci, 2018, 4(2): 268-276.
21. Chakraborty C, Bhattacharya M, Lee SS. Artificial intelligence enabled ChatGPT and large language models in drug target discovery, drug discovery, and development. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids, 2023, 33: 866-868.
22. Zhao A, Wu Y. Future implications of ChatGPT in pharmaceutical industry: drug discovery and development. Front Pharmacol, 2023, 14: 1194216.
23. Savage N. Drug discovery companies are customizing ChatGPT: here’s how. Nat Biotechnol, 2023, 41(5): 585-586.
24. Owens B. How Nature readers are using ChatGPT. Nature, 2023, 615(7950): 20.
25. Morath B, Chiriac U, Jaszkowski E, et al. Performance and risks of ChatGPT used in drug information: an exploratory real-world analysis. Eur J Hosp Pharm, 2024, 31(6): 491-497.
26. Yeo YH, Samaan JS, Ng WH, et al. Assessing the performance of ChatGPT in answering questions regarding cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Mol Hepatol, 2023, 29(3): 721-732.
27. Rusandi MA, Ahman, Saripah I, et al. No worries with ChatGPT: building bridges between artificial intelligence and education with critical thinking soft skills. J Public Health (Oxf), 2023, 45(3): e602-e603.
28. Khlaif ZN, Mousa A, Hattab MK, et al. The potential and concerns of using AI in scientific research: ChatGPT performance evaluation. JMIR Med Educ, 2023, 9: e47049.
29. Stokel-Walker C, Van Noorden R. What ChatGPT and generative AI mean for science. Nature, 2023, 614(7947): 214-216.
30. Liebrenz M, Schleifer R, Buadze A, et al. Generating scholarly content with ChatGPT: ethical challenges for medical publishing. Lancet Digit Health, 2023, 5(3): e105-e106.
31. Flanagin A, Bibbins-Domingo K, Berkwits M, et al. Nonhuman “authors” and implications for the integrity of scientific publication and medical knowledge. JAMA, 2023, 329(8): 637-639.
32. Thorp HH. ChatGPT is fun, but not an author. Science, 2023, 379(6630): 313.

West China Medical Journal

Impact of large language model ChatGPT on medical research

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