One in five GPs use AI at work including for diagnoses, study shows

One in five GPs in the UK use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT as part of their daily tasks, according to a new survey.

The study, published in the journal BMJ Health and Care Informatics, found that GPs are using AI for writing letters for patients and even for suggesting diagnoses, despite a lack of guidance about AI tools and unclear work policies.

It's the largest survey conducted into GP’s use of AI and shows for the first time the extent of its use by UK doctors.

Some 1,000 participants were asked whether they use any form of AI - including ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing AI or Google’s Bard - in clinical practice and if so, what tasks they used it for.

One in five participants said they use AI in their clinical practice and, of these, nearly a third (29%) said they use it to generate documentation after patient appointments, while 28% said they use it to suggest a different diagnosis.

"These findings signal that GPs may derive value from these tools, particularly with administrative tasks and to support clinical reasoning," researchers said.

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However, AI language models have a tendency to 'hallucinate', or generate incorrect information.

Outputs of these machine-learning models also risk worsening racial, gender and disability inequities in healthcare, as well as patient privacy.

“While these chatbots are increasingly the target of regulatory efforts, it remains unclear how the legislation will intersect in a practical way with these tools in clinical practice,” the researchers added.

"The health industry, including electronic health record vendors, is currently grappling with how to create software that complies with safety and confidentiality standards."

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