Medical large language models are susceptible to targeted misinformation attacks

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Tianyu Han - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Sven Nebelung - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Firas Khader - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Tianci Wang - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Gustav Müller-Franzes - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Christiane Kuhl - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)
  • Sebastian Försch - , University Medical Center Mainz (Author)
  • Jens Kleesiek - , University of Duisburg-Essen (Author)
  • Christoph Haarburger - , Ocumeda GmbH (Author)
  • Keno K. Bressem - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (Author)
  • Jakob Nikolas Kather - , Department of Internal Medicine I, Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg (Author)
  • Daniel Truhn - , University Hospital Aachen (Author)

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) have broad medical knowledge and can reason about medical information across many domains, holding promising potential for diverse medical applications in the near future. In this study, we demonstrate a concerning vulnerability of LLMs in medicine. Through targeted manipulation of just 1.1% of the weights of the LLM, we can deliberately inject incorrect biomedical facts. The erroneous information is then propagated in the model’s output while maintaining performance on other biomedical tasks. We validate our findings in a set of 1025 incorrect biomedical facts. This peculiar susceptibility raises serious security and trustworthiness concerns for the application of LLMs in healthcare settings. It accentuates the need for robust protective measures, thorough verification mechanisms, and stringent management of access to these models, ensuring their reliable and safe use in medical practice.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number288
Number of pages9
Journal npj digital medicine
Volume7 (2024)
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 23 Oct 2024
Peer-reviewedYes