Exploring Potential Longevity Applications of Rapamycin With ChatGPT

In 2020 I joined the private beta test of Open AI's Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), which is an earlier version of ChatGPT. When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, I started experimenting with it. Large language models like ChatGPT are expected to enable a new wave of research, creativity and productivity, because they can help generate solutions for complex problems. For over two years I've been exploring the strengths and limits of this?technology and assessing how this tool could be useful to me. I'm also interested how this new technology is being utilized by scientists to make meaningful contributions to academic work.

A recent study demonstrated that ChatGPT was able to pass the US Medical Licensing Exam without any special training prior to the exam and was able to demonstrate a high level of insight in its explanations. The results suggest that ChatGPT may be able to assist with medical education.

I published the first article about my experiments with ChatGPT last week. The article entitled How The Evolution Of AI In Healthcare Aligns With Thomas Kuhn's Structure has been viewed over 13,000 times, and has received 131 likes and 60 comments.

Paper published with ChatGPT as co-author

Today's article is about a paper that my colleague, Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, published in December 2022 with ChatGPT as a co-author. To my knowledge this is one of the first papers to credit ChatGPT as a co-author. Prior to submitting the article for publication, Zhavoronkov contacted Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI and received a response with no objections. The article entitled Rapamycin in the context of Pascal’s Wager: generative pre-trained transformer perspective was published in Oncoscience on December 21, 2022.

Note: This article demonstrates the potential of ChatGPT to produce complex philosophical?arguments and should not be used for any off-label use of Rapamycin.

Speculating about longevity applications of Rapamycin

In this article, Zhavoronkov collaborated with ChatGPT to speculate on the applications of Rapamycin, in the context of Pascal’s Wager philosophical argument. Rapamycin is a prescription drug approved by the FDA for multiple indications including oncology indications, immunological indications, and organ transplantation. There are multiple clinical trials ongoing to test efficacy of Rapamycin as a single agent or in combination with other drugs. Rapamycin has demonstrated life-extending effects in multiple animal models outperforming most other possible geroprotective drugs, and since the safety profile of Rapamycin is established, it may be considered as a candidate for human clinical trials as a potential geroprotector.

In this experiment ChatGPT provided the pros and cons for the use of Rapamycin considering the preclinical evidence of potential life extension in animals. For example, Rapamycin could potentially provide significant health benefits and extend an individual’s lifespan, however, Rapamycin may not be beneficial and may even be harmful so considering potential side effects is important. Furthermore, long-term use of the drug could potentially lead to other health problems, such as high cholesterol and increased risk of developing diabetes. Given these potential drawbacks, it could be argued, from the perspective of Pascal’s wager, that it may be more beneficial not to take Rapamycin.

Note: The decision to take any medication should be made in consultation with a healthcare provider.

Zhavoronkov's interactive session with ChatGPT

1. Zhavoronkov used the prompt “Write an exhaustive research perspective on why taking Rapamycin may be more beneficial than not taking Rapamycin from the perspective of Pascal’s Wager”?
2. ChatGPT took approximately 10 seconds to generate the article.
3. ChatGPT provided the pros and cons for the use of Rapamycin considering the preclinical evidence of potential life extension in animals.
4. ChatGPT correctly summarized the pluses and minuses of taking Rapamycin in the context of Pascal’s Wager.
5. ChatGPT correctly highlighted the potential side effects of Rapamycin observed in clinical literature.
6. ChatGPT correctly summarized the arguments and referred to the need to consult a healthcare provider for guidance and advice based on an individual’s specific situation.
7. The generated response was reviewed by Zhavoronkov who agreed with the arguments presented by ChatGPT.?
8. It took Zhavoronkov?about an hour to polish, reference, and submit the paper.
9. ChatGPT produced the majority of the perspective article in response to Zhavoronkov's query.
10. In response to a direct query regarding co-authorship, ChatGPT produced multiple arguments why it should not be included as co-author. Since the majority of the article was produced by ChatGPT, and to set a precedent, Zhavoronkov decided to include ChatGPT as co-author.

References

Rapamycin in the context of Pascal’s Wager: generative pre-trained transformer perspective, Published in Oncoscience, December 21, 2022

Authors: ChatGPT Generative Pre-trained Transformer?and Alex Zhavoronkov

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Copyright ? 2023 Margaretta Colangelo. All Rights Reserved.

This article was written by?Margaretta Colangelo.?Margaretta is a leading AI analyst consulting at Insilico Medicine. She serves on the advisory board of the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawai?i?Cancer Center.?Twitter?@realmargaretta