Evaluating the performance of artificial intelligence in supporting evidence synthesis: a blinded comparison between chatbots and humans

Background With the rise of large language models, the application of artificial intelligence in research is expanding, possibly accelerating specific stages of the research processes. This study aims to compare the accuracy, completeness and relevance of chatbot-generated responses against human responses in evidence synthesis as part of a scoping review. Methods We employed a structured, randomised and blinded survey-based research methodology to analyse and compare responses between two human researchers and four chatbots (ZenoChat, ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4.0, and ChatFlash) to questions based on a pre-coded sample of 407 articles. These questions were part of an evidence synthesis of a scoping review dealing with digitally supported interaction between healthcare workers. Results The analysis revealed no significant differences in judgments of correctness between answers by chatbots and those given by humans. However, chatbots’ answers were found to recognise the context of the original text better, and they provided more complete, albeit longer, responses. Human responses were less likely to add new content to the original text or include interpretation. Amongst the chatbots, ZenoChat provided the best-rated answers, followed by ChatFlash, with ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4.0 tying for third. Correct contextualisation of the answer was positively correlated with completeness and correctness of the answer. Conclusions Chatbots powered by large language models may be a useful tool to accelerate qualitative evidence synthesis. Given the current speed of chatbot development and fine-tuning, the successful applications of chatbots to facilitate research will very likely continue to expand over the coming years.