This artificial intelligence (AI) Industry Insight focuses on the latest updates on the use of AI in medical communications. We highlight a statement from the National Association of Science Writers on generative AI tools, an article that reviews the use of AI in writing scientific review articles, and, Niche Science & Technology’s Insider’s Insight on using artificial intelligence for medical writing.
In a statement, NASW pledged not to use generative AI tools to replace the work of human writers and editors. They will also not use AI-generated images, except under particular conditions and with artists’ permission. They will allow individual journalists to experiment with generative AI tools to compile research or summarise information. This follows recent articles demonstrating the inaccuracy of using generative AI and examples of publishers replacing writers with AI tools.
The use of artificial intelligence in writing scientific review articles
Kacena et al. used ChatGPT to see whether it could assist in writing credible, peer-reviewed, scientific review articles. They found that the use of AI decreased the time spent writing the review article but required extensive fact checking, as up to 70% of the references cited were found to be inaccurate. They also noted that ChatGPT 4 was limited to literature published before September 2021, requiring manual input of recent literature. The authors concluded that, at this stage, AI cannot be used alone to write scientific review articles, but could potentially be used with human oversight.
Insider’s insight on AI in medical writing
Niche has published a useful Insider’s Insight into the use of AI language models with some helpful tips and learnings. This insight document covers both the basics of large language models and then goes into more detail about how to manage risks associated with general AI language models and how to interact with these models. This is a great starting point for those new to AI in medical writing and a refresher for those more experienced with its use. It is worth a read!
