2023 Japanese national examination for rehabilitation professionals and Chat GPT: Chat GPT passed the national examination for speech-language-hearing therapists.

Background: The use of Chat GPT is rapidly expanding in Japanese society,and the educational community is considering appropriate uses of it. The medical education sector, including training schools for rehabilitation professionals, is also actively engaged in discussion of effective ways to use Chat GPT. The 25th National Examination for Speech Therapists and the 58th National Examination for Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists were held in February 2023. The pass rates of Speech, Physical, and Occupational therapists were 67.4%, 87.4%, and 83.8%, respectively. Analysis of the results of answers by Chat GPT compared with those by actual students will hopefully facilitate discussion of how to use Chat GPT in the education of rehabilitation professionals. Methods: We used Chat GPT 3.5 to answer the questions from the 25th National Examination for Speech Therapists, which had the lowest pass rate among the three exams for rehabilitation specialists, and because it was mainly based on language-based questions and not heavily affected by the use of figures and charts. Results: Chat GPT had a 66% correct answer rate, which was above the level to pass the examinations. The scores were purely based on understanding of language-based questions, but Chat GPT had a comparable ability to our students in correctly answering questions from the exam. Conclusions: This study is the first to show that Chat GPT has the capability to pass a national medical examination. AI is still in relative infancy, but our results show that there is wide potential for academic and education application beyond clerical work. Further studies will seek to elucidate more precise potential use in academic settings.