April 10, 2024 – Do you have health questions about eating right, dealing with stress, how to quit smoking, and more? Ask SARAH and she'll answer them for you.
SARAH is a new interactive artificial intelligence resource from the World Health Organization. SARAH also provides information on mental health, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes.
I asked, „What is a healthy weight for a man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall?“
„The ideal weight for a 5-foot-10-inch man depends on factors such as age, muscle mass, and overall health,“ Sarah says. „It's important to focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, not the specific number on the scale.“ She then offered resources for weight management.
SARAH stands for Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health and replaces the previous version. Florence was designed to answer questions about COVID-19 and dispel misconceptions about vaccination. While Florence was trained on a limited health database, SARAH uses Open AI's GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) large-scale language model to answer a broader range of health questions.
Health assistants speak many languages, are culturally sensitive, and are designed to be as bias-free as possible. Caterina Bozzio, communications consultant at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, said: „Addressing cultural and health literacy differences globally is critical to the long-term success of SARAH.“
Sarah can speak eight languages, making her “more accessible to a diverse population.” The technology has been trained on data from the World Health Organization and trusted partners to „ensure we deliver culturally sensitive products,“ Bozzio said.
Giving AI an emotional persona is a huge advance compared to text-only chatbots, says Brian Anderson, MD, CEO of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI). The Coalition is a group of AI stakeholders working to help develop safe and effective uses of AI in healthcare.
„Aesthetically, (SARAH) is appealing. Its ability to express human faces and mannerisms is really appealing,“ he said. He said the technology provides both visual and non-visual cues that emulate human conversation. It also helps SARAH meet people in terms of language, culture and educational level.
Sarah appears as a woman in her late 20s with brown eyes, brown hair pulled back, and a blue T-shirt. When you „talk“ to her, her expression changes, wrinkles appear on her skin, and her eyes blink. She also appears to be swaying, as if shifting her weight from one leg to the other.
„As long as AI is being used to help individuals solve complex health problems, that's great,“ said Anderson, who was not involved in SARAH's development.
SARAH is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So when she gives advice on how to get a good night's sleep, it's less like, „Do as I say,“ and more like, „Do as I say.“
Bociu said there were several challenges in developing the technology. They adjusted her AI algorithms to increase her accuracy, ensure data robustness, and maintain robust data privacy and security measures.
The technology is impressive, but the facial expressions and pauses in some of the conversations serve as a reminder that SARAH is a work in progress. The SARAH website has an important disclosure that the information is not necessarily accurate. It remains to be seen whether the answers she gives are reliable and repeatable, Anderson said.
The technology is based on generative AI, so it learns and evolves over time.
WHO did not work alone. The company partnered with a technology company called Soul Machines Limited and a creative company called Rooftop to develop his SARAH to provide „authentic, human-like responses.“ WHO will closely monitor SARAH and issue regular updates to ensure the technology is transparent, accountable and ethical.
Visit the World Health Organization Introducing SARAH's website Turn on your device's microphone and speakers and try SARAH.