Avant has warned doctors that typing patients’ names or medical details into ChatGPT has the potential to constitute a breach of confidentiality or privacy.

ChatGPT, a free online AI program, has attracted global attention for its ability to quickly produce convincing responses to questions, including medical fellowship exams such as the RACGP’s Applied Knowledge Test (AKT).

But there are concerns over how the program stores or reuses the information typed into it, says Avant’s general manager of advocacy, education and research, Georgie Haysom.

She is urging doctors to be careful about using ChatGPT — which is owned by a Microsoft-backed not-for-profit called OpenAI — for work, given the potential privacy and confidentiality risks.