Urology consultants versus large language models: Potentials and hazards for medical advice in urology.
BJUI Compass
; 5(5): 438-444, 2024 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38751951
ABSTRACT
Background:
Current interest surrounding large language models (LLMs) will lead to an increase in their use for medical advice. Although LLMs offer huge potential, they also pose potential misinformation hazards.Objective:
This study evaluates three LLMs answering urology-themed clinical case-based questions by comparing the quality of answers to those provided by urology consultants.Methods:
Forty-five case-based questions were answered by consultants and LLMs (ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4, Bard). Answers were blindly rated using a six-step Likert scale by four consultants in the categories 'medical adequacy', 'conciseness', 'coherence' and 'comprehensibility'. Possible misinformation hazards were identified; a modified Turing test was included, and the character count was matched.Results:
Higher ratings in every category were recorded for the consultants. LLMs' overall performance in language-focused categories (coherence and comprehensibility) was relatively high. Medical adequacy was significantly poorer compared with the consultants. Possible misinformation hazards were identified in 2.8% to 18.9% of answers generated by LLMs compared with <1% of consultant's answers. Poorer conciseness rates and a higher character count were provided by LLMs. Among individual LLMs, ChatGPT 4 performed best in medical accuracy (p < 0.0001) and coherence (p = 0.001), whereas Bard received the lowest scores. Generated responses were accurately associated with their source with 98% accuracy in LLMs and 99% with consultants.Conclusions:
The quality of consultant answers was superior to LLMs in all categories. High semantic scores for LLM answers were found; however, the lack of medical accuracy led to potential misinformation hazards from LLM 'consultations'. Further investigations are necessary for new generations.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
BJUI Compass
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article