Utilization of ChatGPT for Plastic Surgery Research: Friend or Foe?

On November 20, 2022, ChatGPT was made available to the general public free of charge. As a large language model (LLM), the software was able to process inquiries by users and generate text based on compiled datasets in a humanist manner. Due to the importance of research in the Plastic Surgery community, we set out to determine if ChatGPT could be utilized to produce novel systematic review ideas relevant to Plastic Surgery. Out of 80 systematic review ideas generated by ChatGPT, we found that the software was highly accurate in creating novel systematic review ideas. Beyond aiding in Plastic Surgery research, ChatGPT has the potential to be used for virtual consultations, pre-operative planning, patient education, and post-operative care for patients. ChatGPT may be a simple solution for the complex problems encountered in Plastic Surgery. & COPY; 2023 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

On November 20, 2022, ChatGPT was released to the general public for free. As a powerful language model, it was capable of processing user inquiries and generating text based on compiled datasets in a human-like manner. In the context of Plastic Surgery research, ChatGPT showed high accuracy in generating novel systematic review ideas. Apart from its potential in research, ChatGPT could also be utilized for virtual consultations, pre-operative planning, patient education, and post-operative care.