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Journal Article Multicenter Study Ppublish

PubMed: 42755220 DOI: 10.1177/17534666261464435

Artificial intelligence responses to bronchiectasis patients' questions: the AIR-BE study.

Ther Adv Respir Dis 20:17534666261464435

Authors: Mattia Nigro, Andrea Aliverti, Alessandra Angelucci, Apostolos Bossios, Hilary Pinnock, Jeanette Boyd, Pippa Powell, Michal Shteinberg, James D Chalmers, Stefano Aliberti

Affiliations

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Lombardy 20072, Italy.
  • IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Respiratory Unit, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano, Milan, Lombardy 20089, Italy.
  • Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
  • Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Division of Lung and Airway Research, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Edinburgh, UK.
  • European Lung Foundation, Sheffield, UK.
  • The B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
  • Pulmonology Institute and CF Center, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
  • Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy.
  • IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Respiratory Unit, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The popularity of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots is growing, with more patients using AI to understand respiratory conditions, including bronchiectasis. The quality of AI's responses to bronchiectasis-related questions has not previously been evaluated.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the reliability, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and understandability of responses generated by different AI-based chatbots to bronchiectasis-related questions formulated by patients.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional international study.

METHODS

People living with bronchiectasis from the EMBARC/European Lung Foundation (ELF) patient advisory group formulated 15 bronchiectasis-related questions, categorised into 3 difficulty tiers. These questions were submitted to three AI-based chatbots: ChatGPT, Bard, and Copilot. An international group of 28 experts from the European Respiratory Societies (recruited through Assemblies and the CONNECT clinical research collaboration) and 33 patients evaluated the answers' reliability, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and understandability.

RESULTS

Of 45 outcomes, 37 were deemed reliable. Median accuracy scores ranged from 6.0 to 9.0, with ChatGPT scoring higher than Copilot and Bard (8.0 [7.0-9.0] vs 7.0 [6.0-8.0] vs 7.0 [6.0-8.0], p-value < 0.001). Median comprehensiveness scores ranged from 6.0 to 9.0, with ChatGPT providing more comprehensive answers compared to Bard and Copilot (8.0 [7.0-9.0] vs 8.0 [6.0-9.0] vs 7.0 [6.0-8.0], p-value < 0.001). Median understandability scores ranged from 7.0 to 10.0, with ChatGPT and Bard delivering more understandable answers than Copilot (9.0 [8.0-10.0] vs 9.0 [8.0-10.0] vs 9.0 [7.0-10.0], p-value < 0.001). Differences in understandability were noted in Bard's responses across difficulty tiers (easy 9.0 [8.0-10.0] vs medium 9.0 [7.0-10.0] vs difficult 8.0 [7.0-10.0], p-value = 0.012).

CONCLUSION

AI software, particularly ChatGPT, provided accurate, comprehensive, and understandable answers to our 15 bronchiectasis-related questions.

MeSH

Intelligence, Respiratory Tract Diseases, Air, Artificial Intelligence, Bronchiectasis, Patient Education As Topic, Generative Artificial Intelligence