Artificial intelligence (AI) performance on pharmacy skills laboratory course assignments

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly accessible.
• Their application in pharmacy education requires evaluation.
• Understanding AI's capabilities in skills labs is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare pharmacy student performance with AI-generated results on laboratory assignments.
• To assess the accuracy of common AI platforms (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) in pharmacy skills tasks.

Main Methods:

• Fourth-year pharmacy students completed assignments using three AI platforms.
• Assignments included calculations, case vignettes, and drug information.
• Faculty graded AI submissions and compared scores to student cohorts.

Main Results:

• 156 AI-generated submissions were evaluated across three platforms.
• Pharmacy students scored higher than AI on most assignments.
• ChatGPT matched student performance on two in-depth patient cases.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacy students generally outperform current AI on skills laboratory assignments.
• Educating students on AI strengths and weaknesses is vital for effective integration.
• This study highlights the need for critical evaluation of AI in academic settings.