The potential for large language-learning models like ChatGPT to take over tedious writing tasks such as emails and parts of PowerPoint presentations—or even be put to use to help collate Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code data—was put to attendees of an artificial intelligence (AI) and social media issues session at the recent Eastern Vascular Society (EVS) annual meeting (Sept. 7–9) in Washington, D.C.
Reid Ravin, MD, an attending vascular surgeon at ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, outlined the advantages of the generative technology, highlighting such AI technology’s ability to understand and generate human language using advanced mathematics and deep neural networks, with “essentially the entire internet fed into them.”
Highlighting a pertinent use in daily vascular practice, he illustrated how he uses ChatGPT to circumnavigate CPT code acquisition. When searching for codes via Google, either the search engine gets the code wrong or “you end up on a site behind a paywall,” Ravin said.
In the case of ChatGPT, “the entire internet lives inside of it.” Ravin demonstrated for EVS 2023 an example: for the past three procedures he carried out, he used the model to list the operations and work them up into a chart alongside a list of their relative value units (RVUs).
He also pointed out Aidoc, an AI-powered triage and notification system, which he said interfaces with electronic medical records to detect patients with specific pathologies.
Ravin also pointed to potential dangers, such as in the case of systems like Aidoc, which could end up “pulling out patients that really don’t need screening—and people who end up getting procedures they don’t need.”
