ChatGPT vs UpToDate: comparative study of usefulness and reliability of Chatbot in common clinical presentations of otorhinolaryngology–head and neck surgery

Purpose The usage of Chatbots as a kind of Artificial Intelligence in medicine is getting to increase in recent years. UpToDate® is another well-known search tool established on evidence-based knowledge and is used daily by doctors worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate the usefulness and reliability of ChatGPT compared to UpToDate in Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (ORL–HNS). Materials and methods ChatGPT-3.5 and UpToDate were interrogated for the management of 25 common clinical case scenarios (13 males/12 females) recruited from literature considering the daily observation at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Ege University Faculty of Medicine. Scientific references for the management were requested for each clinical case. The accuracy of the references in the ChatGPT answers was assessed on a 0–2 scale and the usefulness of the ChatGPT and UpToDate answers was assessed with 1–3 scores by reviewers. UpToDate and ChatGPT 3.5 responses were compared. Results ChatGPT did not give references in some questions in contrast to UpToDate. Information on the ChatGPT was limited to 2021. UpToDate supported the paper with subheadings, tables, figures, and algorithms. The mean accuracy score of references in ChatGPT answers was 0.25–weak/unrelated. The median ( Q 1– Q 3) was 1.00 (1.25–2.00) for ChatGPT and 2.63 (2.75–3.00) for UpToDate, the difference was statistically significant ( p <  0.001). UpToDate was observed more useful and reliable than ChatGPT. Conclusions ChatGPT has the potential to support the physicians to find out the information but our results suggest that ChatGPT needs to be improved to increase the usefulness and reliability of medical evidence-based knowledge.