An international team of researchers has a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to aid in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The tool, named AMR-Policy GPT, aims to bridge critical gaps in knowledge needed for informed policy development, particularly benefiting low-to-middle-income countries.
AMR occurs when microorganisms that cause infections, such as bacteria and viruses, change over time and no longer respond to antibiotic medicines. This resistance makes serious conditions like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria more difficult to treat. It increases the risk of severe illness, facilitates disease spread, and elevates mortality rates. AMR particularly impacts low-to-middle-income countries where water quality is often poor, and the environmental spread of AMR via wastes can be high.
In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) formulated a Global Action Plan to coordinate efforts to tackle AMR. As a result, 194 WHO member states committed to developing country-specific One Health AMR National Action Plans (NAPs). The One Health model recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. However, inadequate logistical capacity, funding, and poor access to essential information can hinder informed NAP policymaking, especially in low-to-middle-income countries.
Co-led by Professor Yong-Guan Zhu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor David Graham from Durham University, UK, the research team developed the AMR-Policy GPT tool. This large language model contains information from AMR-related policy documents from 146 countries. AMR-Policy GPT operates similarly to established AI chatbots but includes a focusing element that promotes more current, accurate, and contextually relevant information on AMR compared to more generic chatbots.
"We believe our prototype is a valuable starting point for National Action Plans, especially for parts of the world that lack local data or infrastructure to support integrated action against AMR," said Professor David Graham of Durham University's Department of Biosciences.
"Any solutions to do with global health need to be viewed holistically and our tool will help guide AMR policy development by increasing knowledge-sharing across countries worldwide, especially related to the environmental spread of AMR," he added.
"Essentially, it provides decision makers with well-referenced information from across all disciplines at their fingertips. And with the ability to continuously update, our framework ensures that the chatbot tool remains up-to-date and effective."
The researchers stress that the primary purpose of AMR-Policy GPT is an "intelligent" information source to assist in the policymaking process, and it is not designed to write comprehensive National Action Plans. They will continue to build on the prototype and explore how it can be further improved and expanded following feedback from users. In the future, they aim to integrate even more scientific knowledge with policy information to create an enhanced AMR-Policy GPT.
Professor Yong-Guan Zhu remarked: "Given the enormous and growing volume of information on AMR and its possible influence on policy, we think that AI is an excellent tool for knowledge integration and also for the initial distillation of understanding."
Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the USA also contributed to the study. The research has been published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The AMR-Policy GPT tool is freely available for the public to use.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq