Artificial Intelligence Replacing the Contents of Medical Acupuncture? The Future of the Journal?

Abstract

Medical AcupunctureAhead of Print Free AccessArtificial Intelligence Replacing the Contents of Medical Acupuncture? The Future of the Journal?Richard C. NiemtzowRichard C. Niemtzow—Richard C. Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, Editor-in-ChiefSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:26 May 2023https://doi.org/10.1089/acu.2023.29230.editorialAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail With all the hype about artificial intelligence (AI), I was eager to ascertain if AI might compose future first-rate editorials and, for that matter, replace the peer-reviewed content in our journal. What a wonderful concept and time-saver—to have a computer take control of our Medical Acupuncture journal. Computers control much of our lives now, and AI has entered medicine, especially in refining interpretations of scans, statistics, treatments, medical literature, etc. Why then should we labor away to write articles and complete article reviews when AI could accomplish in minutes what takes us hours and days to complete? Maybe we could do away with our editorial board that is voluntary and does a magnificent job reviewing articles? Well, for that matter, we probably would not need authors anymore. This would be revolutionary!Lately, all over the news, AI seems to be taking control and influencing our daily lives. AI even seemed to be the dream of Nikola Tesla who thought that, eventually, there would be machines capable of running on their own directed only by some sort of artificial intelligence.1 It almost seems that his prediction is coming true. Even the children on my street, in a very clever fashion, have already thought ahead and as a result are playing longer hours in the beautiful weather while AI does their homework. One of the youngsters told me that AI was a better option than counting on fingers. AI was now writing their essays and solving their math homework. What a concept! Some of their parents said that AI tackled fifth-grade math problems successfully, which these parents could not do and which was previously an embarrassment in front of their children. It was obvious that an AI revolution was happening, and if I did not act quickly enough, Medical Acupuncture might be left behind.I turned my computer on quickly and found a popular AI website. I remember when home computers first came out and I did not want to get rid of my typewriter. This time it would be different, and I would move ahead with the times. I was shaking with excitement and asked AI to write an acupuncture editorial for me. I had to find a name for AI, but this could come later.I waited less than a minute and AI started to compose the editorial with this: “Acupuncture is an ancient healing art that has been practiced for over 2,500 years. This traditional Chinese medical practice involves the insertion of thin needles into specific points on the body to promote healing and relieve pain.” I stopped AI, somewhat disappointed, and I asked AI this time for an in-depth acupuncture editorial. I wanted to help somewhat and suggested an essay on the Yellow Emperor's Classic. Back it came with the following “The Yellow Emperor's Classic also contains detailed descriptions of the acupuncture points and their corresponding therapeutic effects. For example, the point known as Hegu, or LI4, is located on the hand between the thumb and index finger and is said to be effective in treating headaches, toothaches, and other types of pain.” Well, I could do better writing my own editorials. In fact, you may remember that the one I wrote on static magnetic stimulation and acupuncture,2 became a popular download; I even enjoyed writing it. I was not giving up easily; maybe there was another solution.Could we replace our Clinical Pearls section with AI-generated content? That would save the journal time gathering worldwide expertise from our vast readership. I had to start somewhere, so I asked AI how to treat dystonic movements. It replied that “there was very little evidence to support the use of acupuncture.” Next, I asked how to treat anxiety? AI replied: “HT-7, PC-6, Yintang, Ex-HN1, and Anmian (Extrapoint).” This was better. I next asked AI how to treat low-back pain? The response, in less than 1 minute, was the following “Huatuojiaji points, bladder meridian points, gallbladder meridian points and Ashi points.” This was not detailed enough for me. I then asked about urinary incontinence and AI stated “CV3, SP 6, BL 32 and BL 23.” This was not proving to be very productive. And I was not making any headway on my editorial. I could hear all the children on the street having a good time, but I was still sitting in my office trying to get AI to help write this editorial.I was somewhat disappointed and spent the next hour trying to shake out the best from AI that might be useful for Medical Acupuncture. Finally, I realized that there was no substitute for a human being writing content for our journal by a computer writing the editorials. I realized that AI would not be a substitute for the interactions and friendships among our editorial board members, our authors, and especially you, our readers. There was no replacement for the knowledge and expertise all of you bring to Medical Acupuncture and vice versa. AI was not ready nor was I. I decided to try again and, this time, I asked AI for a joke. AI responded, “Why did the robot go on a diet? Because it had too many megabytes.” What a breakthrough after all! AI told jokes better than I did. All was not lost. Do you want to hear more?REFERENCES1. Colton E. Resurfaced Nikola Tesla Writings About Machines with Their “Own Minds” Eerily Predict Rise of AI. Online document at: www.foxnews.com/tech/resurfaced-nikola-tesla-writings-about-machines-with-their-own-mind-eerily-predict-rise-of-ai Accessed May 12, 2023. Google Scholar2. Niemtzow RC. Static magnetic stimulation and acupuncture. Med Acupunct. 2022;34(2):81–82. Link, Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 0Issue 0 InformationCopyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Richard C. Niemtzow.Artificial Intelligence Replacing the Contents of Medical Acupuncture? The Future of the Journal?.Medical Acupuncture.ahead of printhttp://doi.org/10.1089/acu.2023.29230.editorialOnline Ahead of Print:May 26, 2023PDF download