Generative AI in Medicine and Public Health: An Overview and Position Paper on Directions for Social Research

Abstract

There has been great interest in the potential for generative AI and large language models (LLMs), and ChatGPT in particular, to contribute to the fields of medicine and public health. This position paper provides a brief overview of the literature that has been published on the potential uses and benefits of these tools for medical and public health applications. It discusses how social researchers can contribute to analyses and assessments of these applications, particularly in relation to the lived experiences of those who use them in healthcare settings or at home, including consideration of patients, clinicians and other healthcare workers. The paper also discusses impacts on the workers who train and process the data used for these novel technologies and calls for an expanded perspective that acknowledges the impacts of the development and use of generative AI and LLMs on planetary health.

Keywords: generative AI, Large Language Models, ChatGPT, social research, medicine, public health, healthcare