(2020-07-02) Israel Chatbots In The Post-pandemic Era

Shel Israel: ISTM #31: Chatbots in the Post-Pandemic Era. Take Emma from replika.ai who appears above. She is a digital entity whose appearance is amazingly lifelike. Please, take a few seconds and watch her on the company site. Notice, how realistically she smiles and looks you right in the eye. She blinks just like you and me, and her smile is filled with warmth

Emma is a healthcare AI chatbot. She is designed to help lonely people by building their confidence. She’s good at it and in this time of social separation and sheltering in place, she is pretty much in demand.

Conversational chatbots are doing everything from answering patient questions to advising on first-aid treatments, spotting Covid-19 early, counselling doctors, reminding patients to take their meds, protecting healthcare workers from infections, and like Emma, serving as companions for lonely and infirm patients.