Evidence Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 7, 2024; 30(1): 17-33
Published online Jan 7, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i1.17
May ChatGPT be a tool producing medical information for common inflammatory bowel disease patients’ questions? An evidence-controlled analysis
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, Raffaele Pellegrino, Marina Cipullo, Giovanna Palladino, Giuseppe Imperio, Andrea Ventura, Salvatore Auletta, Paola Ciamarra, Alessandro Federico
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina, Raffaele Pellegrino, Marina Cipullo, Giovanna Palladino, Giuseppe Imperio, Andrea Ventura, Salvatore Auletta, Paola Ciamarra, Alessandro Federico, Division of Hepatogastroenterology, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples 80138, Italy
Author contributions: Gravina AG and Pellegrino R collected the literature, wrote the initial manuscript, conceptualised the tables and figures, and contributed equally to this work; all the authors conceptualised the structure of the text, ChatGPT inputs, critically revised the ChatGPT-related outputs and the manuscript for important intellectual content; and all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raffaele Pellegrino, MD, Division of Hepatogastroenterology, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via L. de Crecchio, Naples 80138, Italy. raffaele.pellegrino@unicampania.it
Received: November 4, 2023
Peer-review started: November 4, 2023
First decision: November 30, 2023
Revised: December 7, 2023
Accepted: December 28, 2023
Article in press: December 28, 2023
Published online: January 7, 2024
Processing time: 63 Days and 5.1 Hours
Abstract

Artificial intelligence is increasingly entering everyday healthcare. Large language model (LLM) systems such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) have become potentially accessible to everyone, including patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). However, significant ethical issues and pitfalls exist in innovative LLM tools. The hype generated by such systems may lead to unweighted patient trust in these systems. Therefore, it is necessary to understand whether LLMs (trendy ones, such as ChatGPT) can produce plausible medical information (MI) for patients. This review examined ChatGPT’s potential to provide MI regarding questions commonly addressed by patients with IBD to their gastroenterologists. From the review of the outputs provided by ChatGPT, this tool showed some attractive potential while having significant limitations in updating and detailing information and providing inaccurate information in some cases. Further studies and refinement of the ChatGPT, possibly aligning the outputs with the leading medical evidence provided by reliable databases, are needed.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis; Inflammatory bowel disease; Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer; Large language model; Artificial intelligence

Core Tip: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) increasingly access information resources online to receive information about disease management. Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) are taking hold in the daily reality of many patients with IBD. Through them, patients can potentially understand these systems as reliable or substitutes for medical consultation, especially for issues about reluctantly talking to their gastroenterologist. This review, examining ChatGPT’s outputs to common questions from patients with IBD, outlined how, while this AI system can provide some medical information, there are some limitations related to poor updating and the risk of inaccuracies that push for its cautious use.