DiagGPT: An LLM-based Chatbot with Automatic Topic Management for Task-Oriented Dialogue

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are increasingly sophisticated and exhibit capabilities closely resembling those of humans. A significant application of these LLMs is their use as chat agents, responding to human inquiries across various domains. While current LLMs proficiently answer general questions, they often fall short in complex diagnostic scenarios such as legal, medical, or other specialized consultations. These scenarios typically require Task-Oriented Dialogue (TOD), where an AI chat agent must proactively pose questions and guide users toward specific goals or task completion. Previous fine-tuning models have underperformed in TOD and the full potential of this capability in current LLMs has not yet been fully explored. In this paper, we introduce DiagGPT (Dialogue in Diagnosis GPT), an innovative approach that extends LLMs to more TOD scenarios. In addition to guiding users to complete tasks, DiagGPT can effectively manage the status of all topics throughout the dialogue development. This feature enhances user experience and offers a more flexible interaction in TOD. Our experiments demonstrate that DiagGPT exhibits outstanding performance in conducting TOD with users, showing its potential for practical applications in various fields.