Performance of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 on the Korean Pharmacist Licensing Examination: Comparison Study

ChatGPT, a recently developed artificial intelligence chatbot and a notable large language model, has demonstrated improved performance on medical field examinations. However, there is currently little research on its efficacy in languages other than English or in pharmacy-related examinations.

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of GPT models on the Korean Pharmacist Licensing Examination (KPLE).

We evaluated the percentage of correct answers provided by 2 different versions of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) for all multiple-choice single-answer KPLE questions, excluding image-based questions. In total, 320, 317, and 323 questions from the 2021, 2022, and 2023 KPLEs, respectively, were included in the final analysis, which consisted of 4 units: Biopharmacy, Industrial Pharmacy, Clinical and Practical Pharmacy, and Medical Health Legislation.

The 3-year average percentage of correct answers was 86.5% (830/960) for GPT-4 and 60.7% (583/960) for GPT-3.5. GPT model accuracy was highest in Biopharmacy (GPT-3.5 77/96, 80.2% in 2022; GPT-4 87/90, 96.7% in 2021) and lowest in Medical Health Legislation (GPT-3.5 8/20, 40% in 2022; GPT-4 12/20, 60% in 2022). Additionally, when comparing the performance of artificial intelligence with that of human participants, pharmacy students outperformed GPT-3.5 but not GPT-4.

In the last 3 years, GPT models have performed very close to or exceeded the passing threshold for the KPLE. This study demonstrates the potential of large language models in the pharmacy domain; however, extensive research is needed to evaluate their reliability and ensure their secure application in pharmacy contexts due to several inherent challenges. Addressing these limitations could make GPT models more effective auxiliary tools for pharmacy education.