Trial finds ChatGPT helped oncologists record more chemotherapy side effects, but patients did no better

Doctors who used ChatGPT Plus during consultations recorded more chemotherapy side effects, but their patients were not managed any better, according to an interim analysis of the randomised ALLIANCE trial presented at the ESMO Congress 2026, ESMO reported.

The single-centre trial randomised 56 patients with breast or colorectal cancer to standard care or care in which five physicians could use OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus to help identify and assess adverse events. Clinicians reviewed all AI suggestions and kept responsibility for decisions.

Patients in the AI arm had more recorded toxicities on average (5.4 versus 2.8). That did not lead to significantly better chemotherapy management or quality of life; dose reductions happened in 43% of the AI group and 50% of the control group. "Do more recorded toxicity mean better toxicity management? Not necessarily," said Dr Vanja Miskovic of Milan's Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, who suggested the AI may simply have increased documentation.