Improving Clinical Decision-Making in Treating Airway Diseases With an Expert System Built Upon the Free AI Tool Google NotebookLM

We used the free artificial intelligence (AI) tool Google NotebookLM, powered by the large language model Gemini 2.0, to construct a medical decision-making aid for diagnosing and managing airway diseases and subsequently evaluated its functionality and performance in a clinical workflow. After feeding this tool with relevant published clinical guidelines for these diseases, we evaluated the feasibility of the system regarding its behavior, ability, and potential, and we created simulated cases and used the system to solve associated medical problems. The test and simulation questions were designed by a pulmonologist, and the appropriateness (focusing on accuracy and completeness) of AI responses was judged by 3 pulmonologists independently. The system was then deployed in an emergency department setting, where it was tested by medical staff (n=20) to assess how it affected the process of clinical consultation. Test opinions were collected through a questionnaire. Most (56/84, 67%) of the specialists' ratings regarding AI responses were above average. The interrater reliability was moderate for accuracy (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.612; P