In a career where moral decisions can mean life and death, Japanese researchers are enabling artificial intelligence to help shape the situation of the next generation of doctors. A new study from Hiroshima University shows that large language models (LLMSs) like Chatgpt are ready to play an important role in teaching medical ethics, a topic that is often squeezed out of packaged medical school courses.
The study, published in BMC Medical Education in March 2025, outlines how AI can fill key gaps in ethical education without replacing human coaching. With medical schools struggling to strike a balance between technical training and ethical preparation, these digital tools can provide additional guidance for everything from patient confidentiality to hospice care.
“Medical ethics education does not have the same educational resources as other medical education and requires innovative solutions. We believe that LLMS has the ability to supplement guidance from medical ethics.”
Timing is particularly relevant because AI tools are quickly integrated into healthcare facilities. Healthcare professionals and patients are increasingly consulting LLM for diagnostic and treatment recommendations, and these systems show impressive functions in medical evaluations. Meanwhile, medical students report dissatisfied with the moral challenges they face in practice.
It is worth noting that its focus is on cultivating virtues – teaching doctors is not only moral rules, but also features such as empathy and compassion. Researchers believe that LLM can be used as a “model” to model good responses to complex medical scenarios that students can analyze and learn.
Recent research shows that Chatgpt has demonstrated a nuanced understanding of empathy, which may exceed human ability to recognize the subtleties of emotions. This suggests that these systems can provide valuable insights to students navigating ethical complex scenarios.
The study recommends the use of LLM as an ethical consultant, not the authorities. Students are encouraged to critically evaluate the guidance of AI generation and develop their own moral reasoning, rather than simply accepting machine yields as the gospel.
Although this article proposes reasons for incorporating AI into moral education, Sawai emphasizes important limitations. “LLM has made significant progress in such a short time and we think they are ready to be used by students,” he said. “But it’s too early to use them as a definite source of medical ethics education.”
This cautious approach acknowledges ongoing concerns about AI bias. The researchers specifically noted that while LLMS may be suitable for classroom settings, they are not ready to deploy in a practical medical environment where critical thinking requires multiple moral perspectives.
Researchers see their case as a practical “second best” solution, not ideal, but potential
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