Comparing AI and physician medical advice quality and humanistic care on social media platforms

Objective To evaluate the level of quality, professionalism, and humanistic care in medical advice given by artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare experts on social media platforms, with an emphasis on short video content and in-person question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions. Methods The mDISCERN, GQS, and VIQI scores were used to assess the quality and creator opinion trends of the short videos on AI-assisted diagnosis that were gathered from YouTube, TikTok, and Bilibili. Patient inquiries from Dingxiang Health, a significant Chinese online consultation platform, were selected across medical departments. Simulated answers were produced by Deep Seek R1 and Chat-GPT O3-mini-high, and Bedside Manner Rating were used to evaluate the humanistic and high-quality treatment. Results Across platforms, 60.8% of videos preferred AI's diagnosis powers above medical professionals (Bilibili: 74.29%, TikTok: 56.67%, YouTube: 53.75%). Bilibili videos, particularly those produced by professionals, scored highest in quality ( p < 0.05). In simulated consultations, AI fared better than doctors in terms of quality and humanistic care ( p < 0.05), especially in structured expression and emotional response. Conclusions Higher-quality medical content is available on Bilibili, and AI shows benefits in terms of humanistic care and diagnostic quality in text-based, simulated consultations. Future research should explore examine how doctors and AI might work together to enhance healthcare delivery, with doctors using digital communication while also exercising professional judgment in real-world clinical settings.