AI Chatbots in the COVID-19 Response: Opportunities and Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for transparent, timely, and up-to-date information sharing. In order to fill this need, governments, multinational organizations and industry partners have made unprecedented investments in the development and deployment of chatbot solutions. While these tools hold immense promise, there remain concerns surrounding the safety of chatbots; including potential amplification of misinformation, provision of incorrect guidance to users, and data security.

In this webinar, we bring together digital health experts from across sectors to address some of the most critical questions surrounding the use of chatbots as a public health tool. Panelists will discuss why chatbots can play a critical role in the COVID-19 response, especially in low resource settings; explore the shortcomings to using these tools and ways to overcome them; and share the next steps to maximizing the potential of chatbots and mitigating harm.

Part of a new webinar series hosted by DASH, the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Summits for Health. In partnership with Novartis Foundation, Harvard Global Health Institute and MIT Critical Data. Support provided by Harvard University Center for African Studies.

Panelists:

Hila Azadzoy
Managing Director, Global Health Initiative, Ada Health

Andrew Beam
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Miriam Obibi
Programme Specialist, U-Report 24/7, UNICEF, Northeast Nigeria

Moderator:

Eric Perakslis
Rubenstein Fellow, Duke University