Love and Large Language Models: Voices of the Future with Dr. Rohaid Ali and Dr. Fatima Mirza
Jul 17, 2024
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Dr. Rohaid Ali and Dr. Fatima Mirza, chief residents at Brown University, dive into their innovative applications of AI in healthcare. They discuss transforming surgical consent forms with ChatGPT for better patient understanding and creating a custom AI-generated voice for a young patient who lost hers to a brain tumor. Balancing personal and professional dynamics as a couple, they share stories from their journeys and playful insights through a newlywed game segment, while emphasizing the importance of equitable access and responsible AI deployment in medicine.
Dr. Ali and Dr. Mirza utilized AI to simplify surgical consent forms, enhancing patient accessibility and communication in healthcare settings.
Their innovative AI project successfully reconstructed a patient’s voice, demonstrating the technology's potential to restore identity for those affected by speech loss.
The couple emphasized the importance of ethical considerations and stakeholder collaboration in deploying AI responsibly within medical practices for better patient care.
Deep dives
Collaborative Initiatives in AI and Neurosurgery
The emergence of artificial intelligence in healthcare sparked innovative projects among medical professionals. A collaboration between Rohit Ali and Fatima Mirza began with an inquiry from OpenAI about potential patients who could benefit from new technology. This led to the identification of Lexi, a young patient with a brain tumor who underwent extensive surgery and displayed an unwavering desire to communicate, even while intubated. Their initial discussions culminated in a project to explore the use of AI for crafting personalized voice synthesis for patients who have lost their ability to speak.
Simplifying Surgical Consent
Rohit and Fatima's first major project involved using AI to enhance the clarity of surgical consent forms. Realizing that the average consent form was written at a college sophomore level, they utilized ChatGPT to rephrase these documents in simpler language. Their work showed that AI could effectively communicate complex medical information, making it more accessible to patients. This initiative led to a significant change in how informed consent is presented, subsequently adopted by the largest healthcare system in Rhode Island.
Personalizing Patient Voices with AI
In a groundbreaking effort, the team successfully used AI to recreate the voice of Lexi, a patient who lost her voice after brain surgery. By utilizing a mere 15 seconds of her recorded speech from a class project, they were able to develop a custom voice model through OpenAI's technology. This personalized model not only allowed Lexi to communicate effectively but also demonstrated the potential for AI to restore a sense of identity for patients experiencing similar challenges. The project highlighted the importance of responsible AI deployment while ensuring patient privacy and data security.
Overcoming Challenges in AI Implementation
The duo faced significant hurdles in implementing their AI solutions, particularly regarding ethical considerations and acceptance from medical institutional frameworks. They prioritized gaining approval from various stakeholders, including legal and medical teams, to ensure the validity and safety of their projects. Continuous collaboration with patient advocates helped frame AI use as a means to enhance patient autonomy and improve communication. Their efforts emphasized the importance of alignment between technological advancements and medical ethics.
The Future of AI in Medicine
Looking ahead, both Rohit and Fatima express optimism about the future impact of AI on healthcare. They believe its success hinges on equitable access and the integration of AI tools into existing medical practices. Concerns about biases, patient safety, and regulatory acceptance are paramount, as they advocate for thorough studies and discussions around AI capabilities. Their work exemplifies the proactive steps necessary to shape a future where AI supports clinicians and enhances patient care without compromising ethical standards.
In this episode of NEJM AI Grand Rounds, hosts Raj Manrai and Andy Beam interview Dr. Rohaid Ali and Dr. Fatima Mirza, a married couple and chief residents at Brown University. The conversation explores their innovative work applying AI to health care, focusing on two major projects:
Using ChatGPT to simplify surgical consent forms, making them more accessible to patients. This initiative led to widespread adoption within their healthcare system and inspired similar changes in other medical documentation, and
Collaborating with OpenAI's Voice Engine to help a young patient who lost her voice due to a brain tumor by creating a custom AI-generated voice based on a short audio sample. Ali and Mirza discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into medical practice, emphasizing responsible deployment and human oversight.
They share insights on balancing personal and professional collaboration as a married couple working on research together. The episode features a lighthearted “newlywed game” segment, testing how well the couple knows each other’s perspectives. It concludes with Ali and Mirza offering advice to early-career doctors interested in AI and sharing their vision for AI’s future in medicine, highlighting the importance of ensuring equitable access to these technologies and the need for thoughtful implementation by medical professionals.