ChatGPT and the Future of Medical Education: Opportunities and Challenges

By Abida Shaheen¹, Fahad Azam¹, Mohammed Amir²

Affiliations

1. Department of Pharmacology, Shifa College of Dentistry, Shifa College of Medicine, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan
2. Department of Surgery, Shifa College of Dentistry, Shifa College of Medicine, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan

doi: 10.29271/jcpsp.2023.10.1207

Sir,

We are writing to bring to your attention the recent unveiling of the ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) language model and its profound impact on medical education. Over the years, OpenAI's technology has been extensively applied in finance, manufacturing, and business models. Nevertheless, the popularity of ChatGPT has revolutionised medical education and has left an irrevocable effect on the landscape of academic learning.¹

It has become a matter of concern for medical educators as ChatGPT has rendered it arduous to design assignments and online assessments that cannot be effortlessly manipulated. The burgeoning availability of information, including the answers to questions in examinations or assessments, has made it much easier for the medical students to resort to the unfair means. ChatGPT has further exacerbated this issue, posing a considerable challenge for medical educators to devise a foolproof assessment system that can truly assess students’ comprehension and proficiency of the subject matter.²

Therefore, it is paramount that medical educators start contemplating innovative ways to design assignments and assessments that are impervious to ChatGPT. The traditional approaches that could be readily circumvented by chatbots must be replaced with methods emphasising critical thinking skills, problem-solving activities, and experiential learning opportunities. Medical educators must channel their efforts toward developing case-based exercises, simulations, and interactive activities beyond the capacity of ChatGPT or any comparable chatbots that may emerge in the future.³

Additionally, one of the positive ways to embrace the advancements in the dynamic world is to leverage ChatGPT's potential as a learning tool to enhance learners' critical thinking abilities. By employing this tool, students can be assigned creative tasks wherein they can analyse and critique the information generated by ChatGPT and draw appropriate inferences.⁴

In conclusion, ChatGPT's advent has ushered in a new era in the medical education, presenting a daunting challenge to the medical educators. However, by recognising the diverse applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in all healthcare sectors, medical educators can impart comprehensive education to their students, preparing them for a healthcare system that has already been irrevocably transformed by AI.

COMPETING INTEREST:
The authors declared no competing interest.

AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTION:
AS, FA, MA: Conceptualised the idea, reviewed literature and drafted the write-up.
AS, MA: Critical revision and final approval.
All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.

REFERENCES

1. Kung TH, Cheatham M, Medenilla A, Sillos C, De Leon L, Elepaño C, et al. Performance of ChatGPT on USMLE: Potential for AI-assisted medical education using large language models. PLOS Digital Health 2023; 2(2): e0000198. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000198.
2. Arif TB, Munaf U, Ul-Haque I. The future of medical education and research: Is ChatGPT a blessing or blight in disguise? Medical Education Online 2023; 28(1):2181052. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2023.2181052.
3. Bhattacharya K, Bhattacharya AS, Bhattacharya N, Yagnik VD, Garg P, Kumar S. ChatGPT in Surgical Practice-a New Kid on the Block. Indian J Surg 2023; 1-4. doi: 10.1007/ s12262-023-03727-x.
4. Tlili A, Shehata B, Adarkwah MA, Bozkurt A, Hickey DT, Huang R, et al. What if the devil is my guardian angel: ChatGPT as a case study of using chatbots in education. Smart Learning Environments 2023; 10(1):15. doi: 10. 1186/s40561-023-00237-x.