From Answers to Insights: Unveiling the Strengths and Limitations of ChatGPT and Biomedical Knowledge Graphs

PURPOSE: Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown exceptional performance in various natural language processing tasks, benefiting from their language generation capabilities and ability to acquire knowledge from unstructured text. However, in the biomedical domain, LLMs face limitations that lead to inaccurate and inconsistent answers. Knowledge Graphs (KGs) have emerged as valuable resources for organizing structured information. Biomedical Knowledge Graphs (BKGs) have gained significant attention for managing diverse and large-scale biomedical knowledge. The objective of this study is to assess and compare the capabilities of ChatGPT and existing BKGs in question-answering, biomedical knowledge discovery, and reasoning tasks within the biomedical domain. METHODS: We conducted a series of experiments to assess the performance of ChatGPT and the BKGs in various aspects of querying existing biomedical knowledge, knowledge discovery, and knowledge reasoning. Firstly, we tasked ChatGPT with answering questions sourced from the “Alternative Medicine” sub-category of Yahoo! Answers and recorded the responses. Additionally, we queried BKG to retrieve the relevant knowledge records corresponding to the questions and assessed them manually. In another experiment, we formulated a prediction scenario to assess ChatGPT’s ability to suggest potential drug/dietary supplement repurposing candidates. Simultaneously, we utilized BKG to perform link prediction for the same task. The outcomes of ChatGPT and BKG were compared and analyzed. Furthermore, we evaluated ChatGPT and BKG’s capabilities in establishing associations between pairs of proposed entities. This evaluation aimed to assess their reasoning abilities and the extent to which they can infer connections within the knowledge domain. RESULTS: The results indicate that ChatGPT with GPT-4.0 outperforms both GPT-3.5 and BKGs in providing existing information. However, BKGs demonstrate higher reliability in terms of information accuracy. ChatGPT exhibits limitations in performing novel discoveries and reasoning, particularly in establishing structured links between entities compared to BKGs. CONCLUSIONS: To address the limitations observed, future research should focus on integrating LLMs and BKGs to leverage the strengths of both approaches. Such integration would optimize task performance and mitigate potential risks, leading to advancements in knowledge within the biomedical field and contributing to the overall well-being of individuals.