ChatGPT shows better empathy to patients than doctors: Study
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that ChatGPT, an AI assistant, outperforms physicians in providing high-quality and empathetic advice to patient questions. The study compared responses from physicians and ChatGPT to real-world health questions and found that a panel of licensed health care professionals preferred ChatGPT’s responses 79% of the time. ChatGPT's responses were rated as higher quality and more empathetic.
The study's findings suggest that AI-augmented care is the future of medicine. Integrating AI models into health systems may improve physician responses to patient questions and help ease the burden on physicians, who are struggling with record-breaking levels of burnout due to a barrage of electronic patient messages seeking medical advice.
The research team randomly sampled 195 exchanges from Reddit’s AskDocs where a verified physician responded to a public question. They provided the original question to ChatGPT and asked it to author a response. A panel of three licensed health care professionals assessed each question and the corresponding responses and were blinded to whether the response originated from a physician or ChatGPT.
The study found that ChatGPT responses were nuanced and accurate, often addressing more aspects of the patient’s questions than physician responses. Additionally, ChatGPT responses were rated significantly higher in quality than physician responses and were more empathetic.
While the study's findings suggest that ChatGPT may be able to improve patient care, the team emphasized that the ultimate solution is not to replace doctors altogether. Instead, a physician harnessing ChatGPT is the answer for better and empathetic care.
