These days, it is no exaggeration to say that there is hardly a day when we do not hear the name ChatGPT, not only in IT and business contexts but also in general news. On our company's blog, we have been focusing on ChatGPT for some time and have published articles that highlight its translation capabilities.
Not only have we simply translated, but we have also used ChatGPT to specify terminology, style, check translations, proofread Japanese, and create glossaries, resulting in interesting content, so please take a look.
Related Blogs：Is ChatGPT a Good Translator? Thorough Verification at Each Stage of Translation
Now, in this article, we will focus on ChatGPT in medical translation.
- Table of Contents
Can we create summaries of medical papers?
In addition to the sequential translation performance of ChatGPT, I was also interested in its ability to create content summaries. Therefore, I first attempted to create English and Japanese summaries using an English paper on cardiology that is fully available for free.
If you suddenly input the entire text and request translation or summary creation, you will receive an error message saying, "The message you submitted was too long, please reload the conversation and submit something shorter." It was not possible to input a whole paper and have an abstract created all at once.
Therefore, when I extracted only the Method section of the paper and requested a "summary creation," an English sentence was generated. When I requested a "translation creation," a Japanese sentence was generated. The original text had 977 words, and the generated English summary had 223 words. The character count of the Japanese summary was 485.
It was stated that this study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials aimed at investigating the potential impact of drug treatment on pregnancy outcomes in pregnant patients with cardiovascular diseases. However, the original text did not specify the details of the conditions of the pregnant women targeted in the study. Additionally, the keywords used in the database search conducted within the study were not listed in the Japanese summary.
From the results this time, it seems that simply instructing to create a summary and generating an extraction of appropriate sections from English papers from the researchers' perspective is quite challenging. Currently, it may be said that the results reflect the fact that what AI does is fundamentally advanced natural language processing and statistical processing.
However, there is a possibility to improve responses by entering appropriate search criteria each time, and currently, various research institutions are experimenting with the creation and proofreading of papers using AI such as ChatGPT. There is a possibility that effective methods for paper creation using ChatGPT, including summary creation methods, are being developed. On the other hand, there are movements to restrict the use of large language models in media such as publishers, which seems to require close attention.
Translation of medical papers?
There is no character limit for a single question to ChatGPT. However, while there may be no limit on the number of characters you can input in the question field, it seems that there is a limit on the number of characters in the response.
In fact, as mentioned earlier, I was able to input an English paper exceeding 3800 words into the question field, but even when I requested a translation, an error message was displayed, and no translated text was generated.
Next, regarding the same paper, I requested a translation focusing on the Introduction and Methods (about 1300 words), but the translation stopped at 553 characters.
The approximate amount of English to Japanese translation that can be handled in one operation is about 500 characters in the translated Japanese and around 1000 words in the original text. While the processing speed for each operation is indeed fast, considering the volume handled in industrial translation, this may be somewhat insufficient. Although there are expectations for the benefits gained from the flexibility of interactive AI and improvements in future accuracy, in terms of processing capacity, there is a need to translate a large amount of content, and if machine translation is already in use, it felt that there is no need to switch to ChatGPT at this time.
Can it be used for translation check research?
ChatGPT is an AI that can engage in natural language conversations, so I thought that going back to basics (?), using it for research in translation checks might be the best way to use it at this point. I made sure to be careful not to input any confidential or personal information and tried various things.
Even though it is called medical translation, in projects such as medical systems or internal management systems, IT terms and marketing terms may frequently appear. For someone who has purely specialized in translating or checking translations in the field of medicine, it can be unclear whether to translate using general terms, to leave them in katakana, or if there are established translations, and they may encounter terms that are difficult to understand.
For example, if you ask ChatGPT about "OT" in relation to "IT,"
"IT and OT represent different types of information technology.
IT (Information Technology) refers primarily to digital information technologies, including information processing, information sharing, and communication technologies. For example, it includes computer systems, software, and networks.
On the other hand, OT (Operational Technology) refers to the hardware, software, and systems used primarily for the automation, control, and monitoring of industrial processes. OT is used in various industrial sectors such as manufacturing, energy, transportation, agriculture, construction, and healthcare. Examples include process control systems, automation systems, sensors, actuators, and SCADA systems.
IT and OT both play important roles, but they have different purposes. IT focuses on the processing, sharing, and management of information, while OT focuses on the control, monitoring, and automation of physical processes. Recently, the integration of IT and OT has been advancing, with technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0 emerging to promote the fusion of the two.
The response received was that. When verified through online searches, it seems to be a generally reasonable answer.
Additionally, in English translation, there are times when you encounter information that is not found in dictionary software or dictionary websites, and yet you are frustrated because you don't know how to search for the desired information on the web.
In such cases, for example,
can "with Corona" be translated directly as "with COVID-19" and still be understood?
How do you say "to bring the tube to the side" in English?
If you input questions like these, it will provide direct answers. Even if you don't use the responses as they are, I felt that they might trigger a renewed flow of thought when you're stuck.
For medical-related terminology, it is also possible to consider a method of translating and checking translations while continuously confirming and reconfirming the key terms of the project.
For example, during a project involving cell analysis equipment, asking questions such as, "What is multiplexing?", "What is single-cell analysis?", "What is batch effect in cell analysis?", and "What are 'beads' in cell analysis?" will display an explanation of about three paragraphs on the browser screen. Even if one is somewhat familiar with these terms, it provides a sense of reassurance while working.
By the way, the answer to "What is multiplexing?" is as follows.
Multiplexing refers to the technology or method used to transmit multiple pieces of information simultaneously. Specifically, it refers to the method of sharing the same transmission path among multiple signals to transmit multiple pieces of information at the same time.
For example, when a television station broadcasts multiple channels simultaneously, it can transmit a lot of information at the same time by synthesizing the video and audio of each channel and using the same frequency for transmission. Additionally, technologies that allow multiple communications to occur simultaneously over the internet, as well as the establishment of multiple lanes on highways to enable several vehicles to travel at the same time, are also examples of multiplexing.
In recent years, the use of multiplexing technology in data analysis and the biomedical field has enabled the simultaneous processing of multiple data sets and samples, resulting in high efficiency and high-precision analysis.
As mentioned above, I felt a certain convenience in that only the information I wanted was directly displayed on the browser screen, consisting of about three paragraphs of text. In web searches, there are disadvantages such as having to go through the step of finding a site that contains the information I desire, and being presented with distracting information such as ads and other irrelevant content, but ChatGPT does not have those issues.
Be sure to check the content!
As a criticism of ChatGPT, there are many comments stating that there is no old or new information, that the Japanese version still has a long way to go in terms of information organization, and that there is only information available online.
However, more importantly, there is a significant issue in translation checks where one sometimes states incorrect information with complete confidence.
This is an example of an incorrect answer, but when I asked if there were any educational institutions to learn bio-translation, I was introduced to three institutions: "Fujita Health Communications Institute (FHCI)", "Liberal Arts Japan (LAJ)", and "Japan Medical Translation Academy", each of which provided explanations such as, "These schools offer training in translation, writing, and editing in the fields of medical and bio-translation. There are also correspondence courses and online learning available."
However, none of these three schools appeared in web searches, and it is considered highly likely that they do not exist.
So, when I asked, "Isn't the Fujita Health Communications Institute (FHCI) nonexistent?" I received the response, "I apologize, the information I provided earlier may not have been accurate. I do not have the latest information, so I apologize for not being able to provide certain information. I recommend checking more reliable sources to learn about bio-translation. Thank you."
In another example, when questions related to obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders were input,
such symptoms may indicate a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder known as "Obsessive-Compulsive Checking Syndrome (OCD)." OCD is characterized by irrational anxiety and obsessive thoughts, and it has a pattern of repeatedly performing the same actions to dispel that anxiety and those obsessions. (Continued)
The term "compulsive excessive testing syndrome" was unfamiliar, and it did not appear in a Google search. So, when I typed, "Is the name different?" I received a response saying, "I apologize, I used the wrong term. The correct term is 'Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)'."
It sounds like a bad joke, but these are phenomena that actually occurred as of April 2023.
It is not difficult to imagine that the accuracy of information will steadily improve, but in this verification, we did not ask an overwhelming number of questions. At least at this point, it seems that the possibility of incorrect information being displayed is somewhat higher compared to the expectations placed on ChatGPT.
In any case, verifying information is a fundamental principle of research in translation and translation checking, so it can be said that sufficient verification is required for information from ChatGPT as well.
Summary
ChatGPT is not primarily a dedicated translation service, and it is often thought to be unsuitable for specialized translations, such as in the medical field. However, it seems possible to use the flexibility and multifunctionality of conversational AI to assist in translation and translation checks. I would like to further investigate and share more about these aspects in the future.
However, an output of just over 500 characters per operation is not very practical for business-based translations. Additionally, the reliability of the output cannot be considered complete at this time.
While ChatGPT shows great potential in translation-related tasks, we recommend partnering with a translation company that can offer solutions such as translation assistance tools, machine translation, and human translation for important medical content.
Our company offers human translation services, post-editing services, and the automatic translation software MTrans for Office, which is equipped with ChatGPT integration. If you have any concerns or interests, please feel free to contact us.
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In addition, we provide information related to medical/healthcare translation, as listed below. We hope you find it helpful.
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