ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Connected Health
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1614344
Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture: How Well Can Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Answer Patient
Provisionally accepted
Wojciech K Dzieza1Hailey Hampton1Kevin W Farmer1Ryan P Roach1John Y Kwon2
Ahmet Toygun Yildirim1*MaryBeth Horodyski1Rull James Toussaint1- 1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
- 2Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Objectives: Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have gained popularity as a source of information that is easily accessed by patients. The best treatment of acute Achilles tendon ruptures (AATR) remains controversial due to varying surgical repair techniques, postoperative protocols, nonoperative treatment options, and surgeon and patient factors. Given that patients will continue to turn towards AI for answers to medical questions, the purpose of this study is to evaluate whether popular AI engines can provide adequate responses to frequently asked questions regarding AATR. Methods: Three AI engines (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot) were prompted for a concise response to ten common questions regarding AATR management. Four board-certified orthopaedic surgeons were asked to assess the responses using a four-point scale. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the responses between the three AI systems using the scores assigned by the surgeons. Results: All three engines provided comparable answers to 7 of 10 questions (70%). Significant differences were noted between the AI systems for three of the ten questions (Question 4, overall p=.027; Question 7, overall p=.043; and Question 10, overall p=.033). Post-hoc analyses revealed that Copilot received significantly poorer scores (higher mean ratings) compared to Gemini for Question 4 (adjusted p=.028) and Question 7 (adjusted p=.036), and poorer score compared to ChatGPT for Question 10 (adjusted p=.033). Conclusions: AI chatbots can appropriately answer concise prompts about diagnosis and management of AATR. The responses provided by the three AI chatbots analyzed in our study were largely uniform and satisfactory, with only one of the engines scoring lower on three of the ten questions. As AI engines advance, they will become an important tool for patient education in orthopaedics.
Keywords: Achilles tendon rupture, artificial intelligence, Chatbot, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Patient Education
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dzieza, Hampton, Farmer, Roach, Kwon, Yildirim, Horodyski and Toussaint. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ahmet Toygun Yildirim, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32610, Florida, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.