ChatGPT enters the room: what it means for patient counseling, physician education, academics, and disease management.

Purpose of review: This review seeks to provide a summary of the most recent research findings regarding the utilization of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot, in the field of ophthalmology in addition to exploring the limitations and ethical considerations associated with its application.

Recent findings: ChatGPT has gained widespread recognition and demonstrated potential in enhancing patient and physician education, boosting research productivity, and streamlining administrative tasks. In various studies examining its utility in ophthalmology, ChatGPT has exhibited fair to good accuracy, with its most recent iteration showcasing superior performance in providing ophthalmic recommendations across various ophthalmic disorders such as corneal diseases, orbital disorders, vitreoretinal diseases, uveitis, neuro-ophthalmology, and glaucoma. This proves beneficial for patients in accessing information and aids physicians in triaging as well as formulating differential diagnoses. Despite such benefits, ChatGPT has limitations that require acknowledgment including the potential risk of offering inaccurate or harmful information, dependence on outdated data, the necessity for a high level of education for data comprehension, and concerns regarding patient privacy and ethical considerations within the research domain.

Summary: ChatGPT is a promising new tool that could contribute to ophthalmic healthcare education and research, potentially reducing work burdens. However, its current limitations necessitate a complementary role with human expert oversight.