Brave (in a) new world: an ethical perspective on chatbots for medical advice

Artificial Intelligence as a Triage Tool during the Perioperative Period: Pilot Study of Accuracy and Accessibility for Clinical Application

Background

Given the dialogistic properties of ChatGPT, we hypothesized that this artificial intelligence (AI) function can be used as a self-service tool where clinical questions can be directly answered by AI. Our objective was to assess the content, accuracy, and accessibility of AI-generated content regarding common perioperative questions for reduction mammaplasty.

Methods

ChatGPT (OpenAI, February Version, San Francisco, Calif.) was used to query 20 common patient concerns that arise in the perioperative period of a reduction mammaplasty. Searches were performed in duplicate for both a general term and a specific clinical question. Query outputs were analyzed both objectively and subjectively. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and chi-square tests were performed where appropriate with a predetermined level of significance of P less than 0.05.

Results

From a total of 40 AI-generated outputs, mean word length was 191.8 words. Readability was at the thirteenth grade level. Regarding content, of all query outputs, 97.5% were on the appropriate topic. Medical advice was deemed to be reasonable in 100% of cases. General queries more frequently reported overarching background information, whereas specific queries more frequently reported prescriptive information (P < 0.0001). AI outputs specifically recommended following surgeon provided postoperative instructions in 82.5% of instances.

Conclusions

Currently available AI tools, in their nascent form, can provide recommendations for common perioperative questions and concerns for reduction mammaplasty. With further calibration, AI interfaces may serve as a tool for fielding patient queries in the future; however, patients must always retain the ability to bypass technology and be able to contact their surgeon.

Patients, Doctors, and Chatbots

Medical advice is key to the relationship between doctor and patient. The question I will address is "how may chatbots affect the interaction between patients and doctors in regards to medical advice?" I describe what lies ahead when using chatbots and identify questions galore for the daily work of doctors. I conclude with a gloomy outlook, expectations for the urgently needed ethical discourse, and a hope in relation to humans and machines.