Study: Google's AMIE chatbot showed more empathy for patients than real doctors

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Google has released the results of a study comparing the quality of diagnosis and communication of medical chatbot AMIE to that of professional doctors.

Here's What We Know

The experiment involved 20 patients with fictitious symptoms and 20 primary care physicians. People randomly communicated with either the AMIE chatbot or a real doctor. At the same time, they did not know with whom they were having a dialogue.

At the end of 149 dialogues, most patients said they preferred to communicate with the AI system. In their opinion, AMIE understood the problems better, was more attentive and professional. In addition, the chatbot proved to be more accurate in diagnosing diseases.

However, Google emphasises that the results should be interpreted with caution. In real practice, doctors use much more data than just text descriptions. In addition, they can build long-term relationships with patients.

According to the developers, AI-based medical chatbots are not yet ready to fully replace doctors, but they can become a useful support tool for those who cannot access medical care. However, real-world applications will require additional security and privacy safeguards.

Source: The Register