Application of Conversational AI Models in Decision Making for Clinical Periodontology: Analysis and Predictive Modeling

Abstract

(1) Background: Language represents a crucial ability of humans, enabling communication and collaboration. ChatGPT is an AI chatbot utilizing the GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) language model architecture, enabling the generation of human-like text. The aim of the research was to assess the effectiveness of ChatGPT-3.5 and the latest version, ChatGPT-4, in responding to questions posed within the scope of a periodontology specialization exam. (2) Methods: Two certification examinations in periodontology, available in both English and Polish, comprising 120 multiple-choice questions, each in a single-best-answer format. The questions were additionally assigned to five types in accordance with the subject covered. These exams were utilized to evaluate the performance of ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the chances of correct answers regarding the type of question, exam session, AI model, and difficulty index. (3) Results: The percentages of correct answers obtained by ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 in the Spring 2023 session in Polish and English were 40.3% vs. 55.5% and 45.4% vs. 68.9%, respectively. The periodontology specialty examination test accuracy of ChatGPT-4 was significantly better than that of ChatGPT-3.5 for both sessions (p < 0.05). For the ChatGPT-4 spring session, it was significantly more effective in the English language (p = 0.0325) due to the lack of statistically significant differences for ChatGPT-3.5. In the case of ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4, incorrect responses showed notably lower difficulty index values during the Spring 2023 session in English and Polish (p < 0.05). (4) Conclusions: ChatGPT-4 exceeded the 60% threshold and passed the examination in the Spring 2023 session in the English version. In general, ChatGPT-4 performed better than ChatGPT-3.5, achieving significantly better results in the Spring 2023 test in the Polish and English versions.