Medelix vs ChatGPT for clinical questions: what is the difference?

Disclosure: this comparison is written by Medelix. Statements about ChatGPT and OpenAI rest on the linked sources, as of 13 October 2026. More: editorial policy.

In short

ChatGPT by OpenAI is a general-purpose assistant: it writes, explains, translates, codes — and also answers medical questions. Medelix is specialised in one job: answering clinical questions from guidelines and literature retrieved for that question, with a source for every statement.

What ChatGPT does well

• Breadth. ChatGPT handles very different tasks, from drafting a letter without patient data to explaining a study design.
• Medical knowledge. As early as 2023, a study found ChatGPT performing at or near the passing threshold of about 60% on USMLE-style questions [1]. Newer models have been developed since.
• OpenAI's health focus. OpenAI published HealthBench, a benchmark for health capabilities built with 262 physicians from 60 countries [2]. In January 2026 it launched "ChatGPT for Healthcare" for organisations, with options including data residency and audit logs [3][4].

What clinicians should keep in mind

• Fabricated references in older models. A 2023 study in Cureus found that in GPT-3.5-generated medical content 47% of references were fabricated and 46% authentic but inaccurate [5]. A 2023 study in Scientific Reports found fabricated citations in 55% of GPT-3.5 and 18% of GPT-4 references [6]. Both studies concern 2023 models; current versions may perform differently. The lesson stands: open every source yourself.
• Usage policies. OpenAI's usage policies rule out tailored advice that requires a licence — such as medical advice — without appropriate involvement of a licensed professional [7].
• ChatGPT Health. ChatGPT Health, introduced in January 2026, is aimed at individuals, is according to OpenAI not intended for diagnosis or treatment, and was not available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the UK at launch [8][9].
• Data processing. OpenAI offers data residency in Europe for ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu and the API platform [10]. GDPR and professional secrecy apply to patient data in any case — see AI for doctors: what is allowed.

What Medelix does differently

• Answers from retrieved sources. For each question Medelix searches guidelines, medicines registers and peer-reviewed literature live — among others via Europe PMC, OpenAlex, CORE, Semantic Scholar and Unpaywall — and writes the answer from those passages [11].
• Every statement has an [n] citation that opens the original source. If the literature does not support a confident answer, Medelix says so instead of inventing one.
• European processing. Medelix runs on its own servers in the EU (Helsinki, Finland) [11].
• No patient data needed — and not allowed under the terms; input filters additionally redact common direct identifiers [11].
• Free for individual users; not a medical device [12].

Limits: Medelix is not a general-purpose assistant — it is not built for writing, code or translation. And Medelix answers are AI-generated too: the cited source remains authoritative.

Which one when?

• General tasks such as drafting, summarising your own text or explaining concepts: ChatGPT.
• A clinical question where you want to see the guideline passage or study behind the answer: Medelix. Ask a question.

Sources

1. Kung TH et al. Performance of ChatGPT on USMLE. PLOS Digit Health 2023;2(2):e0000198. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000198
2. OpenAI: Introducing HealthBench. openai.com/index/healthbench
3. OpenAI: OpenAI for Healthcare. openai.com/index/openai-for-healthcare
4. The Decoder (9 Jan 2026): OpenAI launches healthcare product line. the-decoder.com
5. Bhattacharyya M et al. High Rates of Fabricated and Inaccurate References in ChatGPT-Generated Medical Content. Cureus 2023;15(5):e39238. doi.org/10.7759/cureus.39238
6. Walters WH, Wilder EI. Fabrication and errors in the bibliographic citations generated by ChatGPT. Sci Rep 2023;13:14045. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41032-5
7. OpenAI: Usage policies. openai.com/policies/usage-policies
8. OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Health. openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-health
9. The Decoder (8 Jan 2026): OpenAI launches dedicated health section. the-decoder.com
10. OpenAI: Introducing data residency in Europe. openai.com/index/introducing-data-residency-in-europe
11. Medelix: Privacy Policy. medelix.ai/privacy
12. Medelix: Terms of Service. medelix.ai/terms