It has been a year since the launch of Chat Generator Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), a generative artificial intelligence (AI) program. The introduction of this cross-generational product initially brought a huge shock to people with its incredible potential, and then aroused increasing concerns among people. In the field of medicine, researchers have extensively explored the possible applications of ChatGPT and achieved numerous satisfactory results. However, opportunities and issues always come together. Problems have also been exposed during the applications of ChatGPT, requiring cautious handling, thorough consideration and further guidelines for safe use. Here, we summarized the potential applications of ChatGPT in the medical field, including revolutionizing healthcare consultation, assisting patient management and treatment, transforming medical education and facilitating clinical research. Meanwhile, we also enumerated researchers' concerns arising along with its broad and satisfactory applications. As it is irreversible that AI will gradually permeate every aspect of modern life, we hope that this review can not only promote people's understanding of the potential applications of ChatGPT in the future, but also remind them to be more cautious about this "Pandora's Box" in the medical field. It is necessary to establish normative guidelines for its safe use in the medical field as soon as possible.
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