The Promise and Peril of ChatGPT in Healthcare and Pharma Marketing

Man’s discovery of fire. Edison’s invention of the light bulb. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT. Is one of these not like the others or did we just witness the introduction of something that will fundamentally change how humans operate? John Nosta, Founder of the digital health think tank NostaLab, very much believes it is the latter.

Since its release on November 30, 2022, this AI chatbot, which uses a Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) language model and deep learning techniques to deliver human-like responses in a conversational manner, has generated buzz across all corners of the internet and within every industry.

“This is a technological inflection point we didn’t see coming,” Nosta explains. “We thought the way COVID forced digital acceleration would be a game changer. But it came down to something that is a fundamental tool for everyone around the planet—search. ChatGPT is achieving functional, practical advances in search that are widely available with broad consumer utility. This advancement will be a pivotal point in the technological revolution.”

Perhaps you have tried ChatGPT—or heard from others who have—and came away impressed or dismissive. It can be easy to understand either opinion, as this generative AI can pull together content in seconds from any query you provide it, but it has also been known to generate false information or even make up references.

“ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM), which means it does very well with predicting the next best word, phrase, and sentence, but it may not always be factual,” explains Abid Rahman, Vice President, Innovation at EVERSANA. “But we are only just scratching the surface of what AI can do for us. Advanced AI models and algorithms such as GPT4 will enhance ChatGPT’s capabilities and make it more valuable. So while we shouldn’t rely only on ChatGPT to provide information where accuracy is critical, such as medical information, these issues may be fixed in the next version of the technology.”

That is one reason why Nosta is quick to dismiss the naysayers of ChatGPT who point to its current flaws.

“It’s a mistake to define ChatGPT by its current iteration; we have to look at this technology as not a point in time, but a trajectory,” Nosta says. “And when you look at it that way, it’s almost inconceivable not to see the tremendous transformative power that is emerging today. In fact, with all technological innovations there is the duality of wonder and fear. Consider fire, which was our first technology and remains the leading cause of property damage in the U.S. We have to put it into that kind of a perspective.”

Martin Samples, Head of Digital, Senior Vice President at Precision Value and Health, offers one perspective through which to view ChatGPT—a prototype that is simply proving what this technology is capable of.

“What ChatGPT has done is show that a large language model, trained on vast swaths of data on the internet can accomplish complex tasks and respond to multifaceted queries using generative AI,” Samples explains. “The makers of ChatGBT wanted to create interest in generative AI and give people both practical and creative ways to use this smart technology. By doing so they have millions of contributors testing and training the large language model daily. I have to believe that with the right datasets and the right training this AI engine will create value across a number of verticals including life sciences.”

So, given that this technology is likely to have in impact in healthcare, the life sciences, and marketing, what are some of its potential use cases in both the short- and long-term?

In a recent poll on Sermo’s physician platform, 34% of physicians report being excited about ChatGPT, 24% nervous, and 39% a little bit of both.