A new study published in the Journal of Neurology said patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) rated responses produced by artificial intelligence (AI) — specifically, ChatGPT — to be more empathetic than responses from neurologists.

The April 3 study was titled, “ChatGPT vs. neurologists: a cross-sectional study investigating preference, satisfaction ratings and perceived empathy in responses among people living with multiple sclerosis.”

“ChatGPT is an open-source natural language processing software that replies to users’ queries,” the study’s abstract said. “We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess people living with multiple sclerosis preferences, satisfaction, and empathy toward two alternate responses to four frequently asked questions, one authored by a group of neurologists, the other by ChatGPT.”

More than 1,100 people with MS participated in the study. While participants didn’t prefer the content of Chat GPT’s responses to the responses from neurologists, “ChatGPT-authored responses provided higher empathy than [those from] neurologists,” the study said.

“Although AI holds potential,” the study continued, “physicians should prepare to interact with increasingly digitized patients and guide them on responsible AI use. Future development should consider tailoring AI’s responses to individual characteristics. Within the progressive digitalization of the population, ChatGPT could emerge as a helpful support in health-care management rather than an alternative.”