Some doctors are using AI-chatbots like ChatGPT to help them deliver bad news to patients in a compassionate way, report says

• Some doctors are turning to chatbots to help them communicate with patients, per The New York Times.
• Doctors were quick to find uses for OpenAI's viral product after it was launched in November.

Some doctors are using AI-powered chatbots to help them find compassionate ways to break bad news to patients, The New York Times reported.

Doctors were quick to find uses for OpenAI's viral product after it was launched in November.

The Times reported that Peter Lee, the corporate vice president for research and incubations at OpenAI investor Microsoft, found the chatbot had been regularly helping doctors communicate with patients more compassionately.

Some practitioners started using ChatGPT 72 hours after it was released to the public, the report added.

ChatGPT has proved to have impressive medical knowledge and there's evidence that the bots may even help to improve a doctor's bedside manner.

One study found that medical experts said ChatGPT's responses to patient questions were of a higher quality and more empathetic than human doctors. On average, the chatbot answers were rated seven times as empathetic as the doctors,' researchers from the University of California in San Diego found.

In the study, medical experts preferred the AI chatbot's response to the physician's in 78.6% of the 585 scenarios.

ChatGPT has already passed the US Medical Licensing Exam, Insider previously reported. OpenAI's new iteration, GPT-4, has been found to have even better clinical judgment, per the report, which cited a doctor and Harvard computer scientist.

AI-powered products like ChatGPT, however, can still make mistakes or misdiagnose, sparking concern about how some patients may use them.

Representatives for OpenAI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.