Evaluating a generative artificial intelligence accuracy in providing medication instructions from smartphone images

The Food and Drug Administration mandates patient labeling materials like the Medication Guide (MG) and Instructions for Use (IFU) to support appropriate medication use. However, challenges such as low health literacy and difficulties navigating these materials may lead to incorrect medication usage, resulting in therapy failure or adverse outcomes. The rise of generative AI, presents an opportunity to provide scalable, personalized patient education through image recognition and text generation.

This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy and safety of medication instructions generated by ChatGPT based on user-provided drug images, compared to the manufacturer's standard instructions.

Images of 12 medications requiring multiple steps for administration were uploaded to ChatGPT's image recognition function. ChatGPT's responses were compared to the official IFU and MG using text classifiers, Count Vectorization (CountVec), and Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF). The clinical accuracy was further evaluated by independent pharmacists to determine if ChatGPT responses were valid for patient instruction.

ChatGPT correctly identified all medications and generated patient instructions. CountVec outperformed TF-IDF in text similarity analysis, with an average similarity score of 76%. However, clinical evaluation revealed significant gaps in the instructions, particularly for complex administration routes, where ChatGPT's guidance lacked essential details, leading to lower clinical accuracy scores.

While ChatGPT shows promise in generating patient-friendly medication instructions, its effectiveness varies based on the complexity of the medication. The findings underscore the need for further refinement and clinical oversight to ensure the safety and accuracy of AI-generated medical guidance, particularly for medications with complex administration processes.