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AI vs. search engine: which helps you diagnose better?

NCT ID NCT07250516

Knowledge-focused Sponsor: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

This study's is highlighted.

Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed This study
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026

Summary

This study tested whether using an AI chatbot (like DeepSeek) helps people make better guesses about what illness they might have and whether they need to see a doctor. Over 6,000 adults in China read short stories about common symptoms and first made a guess on their own. Then they used either an AI or a search engine to look up information and updated their answer. The goal was to see if the AI group made more accurate diagnoses and care decisions than the search engine group.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Phase

Not a phased trial

Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.

Participants

6,360 people

The number who actually took part.

Started

Apr 2025

Finished

Jul 2025

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Ages

18 years and older

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 years or older * Current resident of mainland China * History of high-quality participation in online surveys on Credamo platform (historical survey acceptance rate ≥ 80% and personal credit score ≥ 70) Exclusion Criteria: * Incomplete survey responses * Failure on embedded quality-check items * Implausibly short completion time (\<180 seconds for search engine group; \<360 seconds for LLM group) * Provision of non-diagnostic or irrelevant responses (e.g., "unknown", "don't know") * Consistent pattern of identical responses across all items

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As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

LLM-based ai dialogue bot Vignette based intervention

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science & Technology School of Medicine and Health Management

    Wuhan, Hubei, China