Responses of Conversational Agents to Health and Lifestyle Prompts: Investigation of Appropriateness and Presentation Structures.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Conversational agents (CAs) are systems that mimic human conversations using text or spoken language. Their widely used examples include voice-activated systems such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana. The use of CAs in health care has been on the rise, but concerns about their potential safety risks often remain understudied.

Objective

This study aimed to analyze how commonly available, general-purpose CAs on smartphones and smart speakers respond to health and lifestyle prompts (questions and open-ended statements) by examining their responses in terms of content and structure alike.

Methods

We followed a piloted script to present health- and lifestyle-related prompts to 8 CAs. The CAs' responses were assessed for their a

SUBMITTER: Kocaballi AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7055771 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature