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Large language models should be used as scientific reasoning engines, not knowledge databases

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Acknowledgements

The authors disclose the use of GPT-4 (OpenAI) to check spelling and grammar during the writing of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

    Daniel Truhn

  2. Experimental Pathology, Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Jorge S. Reis-Filho

  3. Else Kroener Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Jakob Nikolas Kather

Authors
  1. Daniel Truhn
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  2. Jorge S. Reis-Filho
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  3. Jakob Nikolas Kather
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Correspondence to Jakob Nikolas Kather.

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Competing interests

J.S.R.-F. reports a leadership (board of directors) role at Grupo Oncoclinicas, stock or other ownership interests at Repare Therapeutics and Paige.AI, and a consulting or advisory role at Genentech/Roche, Invicro, Ventana Medical Systems, Volition RX, Paige.AI, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, Novartis, Repare Therapeutics, Lilly, Saga Diagnostics, MultiplexDX and Personalis. J.N.K. declares consulting services for Owkin (France), DoMore Diagnostics (Norway) and Panakeia (UK) and receipt of honoraria for lectures from Eisai, Roche, Bayer, MSD and Fresenius. D.T. and J.N.K. hold shares in StratifAI GmbH, Germany.

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Truhn, D., Reis-Filho, J.S. & Kather, J.N. Large language models should be used as scientific reasoning engines, not knowledge databases. Nat Med 29, 2983–2984 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02594-z

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