Don’t worry about ChatGPT
Instead, get in the innovation age we’re in right now, which is defined by accessible and affordable microcomputers, 3D printing and teamwork to solve problems.
From electronic medical records to devices such as neural stimulators, lasers, microscopes and robots, technology is continuing to shape various aspects of health care. Which current technological advances should urologists be concerned about now?
It’s not ChatGPT, the free generative artificial intelligence platform that uses large swaths of digital content and rearranges it according to the likelihood that words, phrases and sentences would follow.
“Don’t worry about ChatGPT,” said Craig Niederberger, MD, FACS, who presented the Ramon Guiteras Lecture on Saturday: “Modern Innovation: Promise or Peril?” Dr. Niederberger is the Clarence C. Saelhof professor and head of the department of urology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a joint appointment as professor in the department of bioengineering in the College of Engineering.
ChatGPT has the potential to identify possible research topics and help us stay abreast of updates and new developments in the field. “But the more you try to make sense of it, the more it eludes you,” Dr. Niederberger said.
“Although ChatGPT can sound like us, it doesn’t think like us,” he added. Not convinced? “Go to ChatGPT.com [and] ask it some urological questions. Put in a case and see what it says,” he said. “You’ll be comforted to know it’s not going to replace you anytime in the near future.”
Instead, focus on the innovation age that’s upon us.
“What’s going on right now in innovation is remarkable,” Dr. Niederberger said. “In the 1980s, innovation in medicine involved bringing an idea to an engineer and giving them $3 million. They would build things on the bench. Eventually (these things) would land somewhere useful, but the process was very inefficient. In the last 20 years, innovation has become more accessible and a team sport, in which medicine, engineers, learners of all kinds—from undergraduates to full professors and designers—come together to identify and solve problems.”
Moreover, the barrier to entry has never been lower. Dr. Niederberger cited tools such as 3D printers and small, inexpensive, easily programmed, yet highly powerful computers, such as the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi, which are available on Amazon and cost less than $50, that are making innovation easily accessible.
It all starts with identifying a problem.
“Once you realize frustrating things are problems you can solve, the world is your oyster,” Dr. Niederberger said. “As urologists, all of us are natural innovators.”
