Artificial Intelligence Versus Expert Plastic Surgeon: Comparative Study Shows ChatGPT "Wins" Rhinoplasty Consultations: Should We Be Worried?

Large language models, such as ChatGPT, hold tremendous promise to bridge gaps in patient education and enhance the decision-making resources available online for patients seeking nasal surgery. To compare the performance of ChatGPT in answering preoperative and postoperative patient questions related to septorhinoplasty. Two sets of responses were collected for the questions: one from an expert rhinoplasty surgeon with over two decades of experience, and the other from ChatGPT-3.5. Seven expert rhinoplasty surgeons, blinded to the source of responses, independently assessed the responses using a 5-point Likert scale in four performance areas: empathy, accuracy, completeness, and overall quality. ChatGPT outperformed physician responses in three of the four performance areas, earning significantly higher ratings in accuracy, completeness, and overall quality ( < 0.001). In addition, ChatGPT was overwhelmingly preferred over physician responses ( < 0.001), with evaluators favoring ChatGPT in 80.95% of instances. ChatGPT has demonstrated its remarkable ability to deliver accurate, complete, and high-quality responses to preoperative and postoperative patient questions. Although certain improvements are warranted, this artificial intelligence tool has shown its potential to effectively counsel and educate prospective septorhinoplasty patients at a level comparable with or exceeding that of an expert surgeon.