ChatGPT in urology practice: revolutionizing efficiency and patient care with generative artificial intelligence

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: ChatGPT has emerged as a potentially useful tool for healthcare. Its role in urology is in its infancy and has much potential for research, clinical practice and for patient assistance. With this narrative review, we want to draw a picture of what is known about ChatGPT's integration in urology, alongside future promises and challenges. RECENT FINDINGS: The use of ChatGPT can ease the administrative work, helping urologists with note-taking and clinical documentation such as discharge summaries and clinical notes. It can improve patient engagement through increasing awareness and facilitating communication, as it has especially been investigated for uro-oncological diseases. Its ability to understand human emotions makes ChatGPT an empathic and thoughtful interactive tool or source for urological patients and their relatives. Currently, its role in clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions is uncertain, as concerns have been raised about misinterpretation, hallucination and out-of-date information. Moreover, a mandatory regulatory process for ChatGPT in urology is yet to be established. SUMMARY: ChatGPT has the potential to contribute to precision medicine and tailored practice by its quick, structured responses. However, this will depend on how well information can be obtained by seeking appropriate responses and asking the pertinent questions. The key lies in being able to validate the responses, regulating the information shared and avoiding misuse of the same to protect the data and patient privacy. Its successful integration into mainstream urology needs educational bodies to provide guidelines or best practice recommendations for the same.