ChatGPT may have better bedside manner than some doctors, but it lacks some expertise

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for patients who are seeking medical information and guidance, but the artificial intelligence tool can't fully replace the value of a human physician -- it says so itself.

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for patients who are seeking medical information and guidance, but the artificial intelligence tool can't fully replace the value of a human physician -- it says so itself.

"While I am a language model that has been trained on a vast amount of information, I am not a licensed medical professional and I am not capable of providing medical diagnoses, treatments, or advice," the chatbot wrote in response to a question from CNN.

Still, new research published this week suggests that physicians may have some things to learn from the chatbot when it comes to patient communication.

A panel of licensed health care professionals assessed responses to about 200 different medical questions posed to a public online forum, including patient inquiries about medical diagnoses, need for medical attention and more.

Responses from ChatGPT were "preferred over physician responses and rated significantly higher for both quality and empathy," according to a study published Friday.

More than a quarter of responses from physicians were considered to be less than acceptable in quality compared with less than 3 per cent of those from ChatGPT. Conversely, nearly half of responses from ChatGPT were considered to be empathetic (45 per cent) compared with less than 5 per cent of those from physicians.

On average, ChatGPT scored 21 per cent higher than physicians for the quality of responses and 41 per cent more empathetic, according to the study.