Rise of Digital Human Doctors: The Role of AGI and ChatGPT in Revolutionizing Healthcare Sector

A study by Feiyue Wang from the Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical College Hospital discusses the transformative potential of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) like ChatGPT in the healthcare sector. It envisions a future where AI advancements lead to the development of digital doctors and parallel hospitals, revolutionizing traditional medical practices and improving healthcare efficiency and outcomes.

Generative AI and large-scale intelligent technologies such as ChatGPT are expected to significantly impact various industries, especially healthcare. These technologies will make the concept of digital doctors a reality, accelerating the integration of virtual and physical healthcare services. The paper introduces the "Three Threes" concept of new intelligent medicine to reduce social costs and improve healthcare efficiency, aiming to realize the vision of personalized and exclusive digital hospitals for patients.

Parallel Medicine: Three Worlds and Three Types of Doctors

The foundation of parallel medicine is based on the philosophical view of reality's three worlds by Karl Popper. This new medical framework includes three types of doctors: digital human doctors, robot doctors, and biological human doctors. The concept of "small problems, large models" becomes feasible with ChatGPT, where digital human doctors handle the majority of medical issues. This approach minimizes the cognitive and physical load on human doctors by leveraging AI and robotics, allowing them to interact with increasingly intelligent medical systems as they would with other humans.

The envisioned future involves a predominant number of digital human doctors, making up over 80 percent of the doctor population, while robot and biological human doctors account for less than 20 percent. This shift aligns with a computational world where servers are the technical infrastructure, necessitating efficient utilization to ensure sustainable development. The introduction of digital human doctors will fundamentally change medical education and management, requiring the digitalization of the medical education system and the integration of AI systems like AlphaGo and ChatGPT as standard components.

Human-Centered Healthcare: Three Modes and the Role of AI

The integration of digital human doctors introduces a new paradigm in medicine, transforming the deep empathy issues between doctors and patients into scientific research problems. The future medical framework includes three modes: autonomous modes (AM) in the morning, parallel modes (PM) in the afternoon, and expert or emergency modes (EM) in the evening. This structure aims to reduce the burden on healthcare workers, especially psychological stress, and enhance human-centered empathy in patient care.

Medical foundation models, scenario engineering, and medical operating systems will be pivotal in this transformation. These technologies will facilitate the remote control and monitoring of intelligent medical equipment, improving efficiency and management. AI-assisted diagnosis and decision support functions will provide more precise, rapid, and efficient medical services, offering significant opportunities and challenges for the healthcare industry.

Innovations in Medical Technology and Ethics

Parallel medicine and parallel hospitals necessitate a rethinking of medical "hardware" concepts, emphasizing the development of mobile and community-based medical equipment, including unmanned medical devices. This innovative approach aims to create a "courier" style healthcare service system where doctors and hospitals are distributed widely across communities, ensuring that patient privacy and rights are maximally protected. This goal requires accelerated research into blockchain technology, smart contracts, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for widespread application in healthcare.

AI technologies like ChatGPT highlight the need for a profound shift in thinking to cope with the rapid changes and complexities of modern medicine. The paper emphasizes the importance of embracing innovative thinking and proactive planning to prepare for the significant transformations AI will bring to healthcare. The ultimate objective is to develop a sustainable and human-centered healthcare system where digital human doctors and intelligent medical systems work in harmony to deliver personalized, efficient, and ethical patient care.

The impact of ChatGPT and general AI technologies on future medical care is profound and far-reaching. By redefining the roles of digital, robot, and human doctors within a new medical framework, and leveraging advanced AI technologies, the healthcare industry can achieve significant improvements in efficiency, empathy, and patient outcomes. The vision of personalized digital hospitals is not just a distant dream but a feasible and practical goal, driven by continuous innovation and the integration of intelligent technologies into everyday medical practices.