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Intelligent Conversational Agents in Global Health

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Innovations in Global Mental Health

Abstract

Conversational agents are software programs that emulate conversation with humans through natural language. Conversational agents are beginning to be used to automate the provision and collection of health-related information and assist in the training of clinicians and, in some applications, used to provide therapeutic counseling. This technology has the potential to help address some of the shortages of human resources for health and clinical services worldwide. This chapter provides an overview of CAs in healthcare and public health and discusses the practical and ethical challenges associated with them. Specific issues discussed include equitable access, biases in design, safety issues, and more. Recommendations to address these challenges are offered along with a call for collaborative establishment of best practices and international ethics guidelines for technologies that simulate and replace humans in health-related services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA

    David D. Luxton

  2. Human-Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Anton Sirotin

Authors
  1. David D. Luxton
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  2. Anton Sirotin
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Correspondence to David D. Luxton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Center for Health, Culture and Society, George Washington University, Nashville, Washington, TN, USA

    Samuel O. Okpaku

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Luxton, D.D., Sirotin, A. (2020). Intelligent Conversational Agents in Global Health. In: Okpaku, S. (eds) Innovations in Global Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_11-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_11-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70134-9

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