Generative AI could revolutionize health care — but not if control is ceded to big tech

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Large language models such as that used by ChatGPT could soon become essential tools for diagnosing and treating patients. To protect people’s privacy and safety, medical professionals, not commercial interests, must drive their development and deployment.

By

  1. Augustin Toma

    1. Augustin Toma is a graduate student at the Vector Institute, Toronto, and at the University of Toronto, Canada.Senthujan Senkaiahliyan

  2. Senthujan Senkaiahliyan

    1. Senthujan Senkaiahliyan is a graduate student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.

  3. Patrick R. Lawler

    1. Patrick R. Lawler is a cardiologist at the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.

  4. Barry Rubin

    1. Barry Rubin is medical director at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.

  5. Bo Wang

    1. Bo Wang is chief AI scientist at the University Health Network and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.

A surgeon points to a screen showing ultrasound scans of a baby's heart

Generative AI could help to diagnose conditions. Credit: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty

ChatGPT was released by the technology company OpenAI for public use on 30 November 2022. GPT-4, the large language model (LLM) underlying the most advanced version of the chatbot1, and others, such as Google’s Med-PaLM2, are poised to transform health care.

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Nature 624, 36-38 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03803-y

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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