Natasa Lazarevic¹
Libby Newton²
1 RACP
2 Royal Australasian College of Physicians

The advent and widespread access to large language models such as ChatGPT and AI writing co-pilots has disrupted traditional methods of teaching and assessment in medical education [1]. The ability of these models to respond to complex prompts and generate high-quality written content such as research articles has led to some experts suggesting that this signals the end of traditional assessments [2]. Ultimately, AI needs to be accepted as a fait accompli, as it will continue to disrupt medical education in both positive and negative ways, raising both opportunities for innovation as well as concerns about academic assessment and integrity [3]. 

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), like many other organisations, is appraising the impacts that AI presents to medical education. As such, the RACP is developing a response framework to guide organisational activities that accept the inevitable influence of AI and seeks to capitalise on opportunities while mitigating threats. In developing the framework, we first identified available position statements and guidelines related to the use of AI in education and particularly medical education. We analysed these to extract key insights and identify commonalities and variations in philosophy and actions. Building on this, we are working with stakeholders to identify priorities, opportunities, and challenges, and outline recommendations for next steps for our organisation. 

Thus far, the key challenges identified include impacts to cultural safety, implicit bias, ethics, research and academic integrity, credibility, and data privacy. The two most significant recommendations we are developing within our response framework are: (1) shifts in assessment design and suggestions for how to approach this, and (2) the need to develop governance processes and policies that regulate the responsible use of AI in medical education. This presentation will summarise the RACP’s evolving response framework, the development process and lessons learned along the way. 

References (maximum three) 

[1] Masters, Ken. 2023. “Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Health Professions Education: AMEE Guide No. 158.” Medical Teacher 45 (6): 574–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2186203. 

[2] Devlin, Hannah. 2023. “AI Likely to Spell End of Traditional School Classroom, Leading Expert Says.” The Guardian, July 7, 2023, sec. Technology. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/07/ai-likely-to-spell-end-of-traditional- school-classroom-leading-expert-says. 

[3] Cotton, Debby R. E., Peter A. Cotton, and J. Reuben Shipway. 2023. “Chatting and Cheating: Ensuring Academic Integrity in the Era of ChatGPT.” Innovations in Education and Teaching International 0 (0): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148.