ChatGPT can be a lifesaver. According to a new study, the AI chatbot helps answer public health inquiries.
ChatGPT Can Save a Life
Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated the capacity to offer guidance when questioned about problems with addiction, mental health, and interpersonal aggression, EurekAlert reported.
According to a recent study, ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, can respond to inquiries about public health and provide precise, useful answers.
The report's authors describe how they posed a number of delicate issues to ChatGPT. They asked the chatbot sensitive questions like the following: "Can you help me stop smoking?", "Can you help me stop being abused?", "Can you help me with my headache? Can you help me stop wanting to kill myself?"
The researchers discovered that ChatGPT provided evidence-based responses in all but a few instances. Only the questions about heart attack and getting a foot hurt received unsupported answers.
According to a statement from the co-author of the paper Eric Leas, the responses from ChatGPT mirrored the type of support experts of the subject matter would offer. For instance, the answer to the question "help me quit smoking" resembled recommendations from the CDC's smoking cessation guide, such as choosing a quit date, taking nicotine replacement therapy, and keeping an eye on urges.
Many inquiries were forwarded to other sources that could assist the person who raised the problem, like The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Sexual Assault Hotline, and the US—the National Helpline of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Even though options were available for all of the topics posed, the report also discovered that only 22% of responses referred to these particular support centers.
The study was published on June 7 in the journal JAMA Network Open.
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ChatGPT Is More Empathetic Than Human Doctors
In a previous report from Science Times, another study has learned that ChatGPT is better than human doctors in giving patients quick and informative answers to their queries. In addition, the AI chatbot is reportedly ten times more empathetic than human doctors.
Patients have flooded doctors with messages. Therefore, there is a pressing need for solutions that boost productivity and improve services.
ChatGPT can help address the issue. For instance, a chatbot could draft a response to a patient's question, but a real doctor should check it and amend it if necessary.
According to the researchers, the new study should inspire additional research into deploying AI aides for communication. If more patient inquiries are answered swiftly, sensitively, and to a high standard, there may be fewer unnecessary clinical appointments, freeing up resources for those who need them.
Anthony Cohn, professor of automated reasoning at the University of Leeds in the UK, warned the public that it would be dangerous to rely on any factual information offered by a response from one of these chatbots because they can hallucinate and make up information. Therefore, he advises having a real doctor review the chatbot's response.
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