ChatGPT-5, Gemini and DeepSeek ace pediatric infection questions, study finds

Pediatric infectious diseases have always demanded a particular kind of clinical vigilance. A fever in a newborn is not the same as a fever in a ten-year-old; a runny nose in an immunized toddler can hide something far more serious than it would in an adult. Now, as families arrive at clinics armed with answers generated by artificial intelligence, and as medical students quietly rehearse case presentations with chatbots instead of textbooks, pediatricians are asking a question that has moved from curiosity to necessity: how good are these systems, really, at the age-specific reasoning that defines their field? A new study published in Pediatric Research offers one of the most structured answers to date.