AI chatbots versus human healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of empathy in patient care
Background: Empathy is widely recognized for improving patient outcomes, including reduced pain and anxiety and improved satisfaction, and its absence can cause harm. Meanwhile, use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbots in healthcare is rapidly expanding, with one in five general practitioners using generative AI to assist with tasks such as writing letters. Some studies suggest AI chatbots can outperform human healthcare professionals (HCPs) in empathy, though findings are mixed and lack synthesis. Sources of data: We searched multiple databases for studies comparing AI chatbots using large language models with human HCPs on empathy measures. We assessed risk of bias with ROBINS-I and synthesized findings using random-effects meta-analysis where feasible, whilst avoiding double counting. Areas of agreement: We identified 15 studies (2023-2024). Thirteen studies reported statistically significantly higher empathy ratings for AI, with only two studies situated in dermatology favouring human responses. Of the 15 studies, 13 provided extractable data and were suitable for pooling. Meta-analysis of those 13 studies, all utilising ChatGPT-3.5/4, showed a standardized mean difference of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.54-1.20) favouring AI (P < .00001), roughly equivalent to a two-point increase on a 10-point scale. Areas of controversy: Studies relied on text-based assessments that overlook non-verbal cues and evaluated empathy through proxy raters. Growing points: Our findings indicate that, in text-only scenarios, AI chatbots are frequently perceived as more empathic than human HCPs. Areas timely for developing research: Future research should validate these findings with direct patient evaluations and assess whether emerging voice-enabled AI systems can deliver similar empathic advantages.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Assistive Chatbots for healthcare: a succinct review
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for supporting healthcare services has never been more necessitated than by the recent global pandemic. Here, we review the state-of-the-art in AI-enabled Chatbots in healthcare proposed duri…
ChatbotEthicsAI Healthcare Chatbots as Information Infrastructure: A Large-Scale Study of User-Reported Breakdowns
AI healthcare chatbots are increasingly used to support health information seeking and self-management, yet their performance and impact on users remains to be studied. This study examines over 15,000 user reviews from 5…
Chatbots as conversational healthcare services
Chatbots are emerging as a promising platform for accessing and delivering healthcare services. The evidence is in the growing number of publicly available chatbots aiming at taking an active role in the provision of pre…
Decision MakingOnline vs Offline: A Comparative Study of First-Party and Third-Party Evaluations of Social Chatbots
This paper explores the efficacy of online versus offline evaluation methods in assessing conversational chatbots, specifically comparing first-party direct interactions with third-party observational assessments. By ext…
BenchmarkingChatbotHow Reliable AI Chatbots are for Disease Prediction from Patient Complaints?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) are gaining traction in healthcare for their potential to automate patient interactions and aid clinical decision-making. This study examines …
Decision MakingDisease PredictionFew-Shot Learning