Evaluation of DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4o as educational sources for upper tract urothelial carcinoma.

Introduction: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is associated with poor survival outcomes. Therefore, providing reliable information about UTUC is crucial. Recently, chatbots powered by large language models have become a widely used information source. Our aim was to evaluate and compare responses generated by ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek-R1 to patient-important questions regarding UTUC. Material and methods: A set of 43 questions assigned into four categories (general information, symptoms and diagnosis, treatment, prognosis) was curated. Each question was entered into DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4o. Answers were rated by two urologists using a scale from 1 (completely incorrect) to 4 (fully correct). The median score was calculated for each question. Median scores ≥3 were considered accurate. The repeatability of responses was evaluated using cosine similarity. The number of words in responses was counted. Results: The median scores for DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4o were both 3.5. There was no statistically significant difference between the scores assigned to two chatbots for all questions (p = 0.35), nor for any particular category.DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4o provided satisfactory answers for 93% and 91% of the evaluated questions, respectively. No potentially dangerous information was found. Both models consistently generated responses with moderate-high similarity (cosine similarity >0.5), except in one query. Finally, DeepSeek-R1 provided significantly longer answers than ChatGPT-4o (p <0.001). Conclusions: Both DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4o predominantly provide satisfactory responses to patient-important questions about UTUC. Artificial intelligence chatbots demonstrate potential as the first-line information sources for patients but struggle with highly specialized inquiries and thus cannot replace expert medical advice.