Use of Large Language Models to Classify Epidemiological Characteristics in Synthetic and Real-World Social Media Posts About Conjunctivitis Outbreaks: Infodemiology Study

Michael S Deiner   ^{1, 2} , PhD ;   Russell Y Deiner   ³ ;   Cherie Fathy   ⁴ , MD ;   Natalie A Deiner   ⁵ ;   Vagelis Hristidis   ⁶ , PhD ;   Stephen D McLeod   ^{1, 2, 7} , MD ;   Thomas J Bukowski   ¹ , MA, MPA ;   Thuy Doan   ^{1, 2} , MD, PhD ;   Gerami D Seitzman   ^{1, 2} , MD ;   Thomas M Lietman   ^{1, 2, 8} , MD ;   Travis C Porco   ^{1, 2, 8} , MPH, PhD

¹ Francis I Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States

² Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States

³ Abraham Lincoln High School, San Francisco, CA, San Francisco, CA, United States

⁴ Document Control Center, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Silver Spring, CA, United States

⁵ College of Letters and Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States

⁶ Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States

⁷ American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA, United States

⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States