The Nurse is a Bot: Can AI Care for You?
- By CDOTrends editors
- March 26, 2024
AI leader NVIDIA is working with medical startup Hippocratic AI to develop new AI-powered healthcare agents.
Described as ‘nursebots’, the AI agents will interact with patients in conversations, and it is claimed they might even show empathy and establish emotional connections.
The agents will use NVIDIA hardware to reduce real-time latency in responding.
"Voice-based digital agents powered by generative AI can usher in an age of abundance in health care, but only if the technology responds to patients as a human would," said Kimberly Powell, vice president of healthcare at NVIDIA.
"This type of engagement will require continued innovation and close collaboration with companies, such as Hippocratic AI, developing cutting-edge solutions."
Hippocratic AI tested the agents on a sample of just over 1,000 licensed nurses who acted as patients.
When asked, "Did you feel this AI cared about you?" 88.2% responded with “Yes.” When asked, "Do you feel comfortable confiding in this AI?" the response was an 88.8% “Yes.” The ‘nursebots' could also outperform humans in detecting toxic dosages.
"With generative AI, patient interactions can be seamless, personalized, and conversational—but to have the desired impact, the speed of inference has to be incredibly fast," Munjal Shah, co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI, said in a press release.
"With the latest advances in LLM inference, speech synthesis, and voice recognition, NVIDIA's technology stack is critical to achieving this speed and fluidity.
We're working with NVIDIA to continue refining our technology and amplify the impact of our work of mitigating staffing shortages while enhancing access, equity, and patient outcomes."
Hippocratic AI is only one year old, but the startup has just gained a valuation of USD500 million following a USD53 million funding round led by venture capital firms, including General Catalyst and Premji Invest.
The company aims to create a range of AI agents that can assist in clinics and hospitals.
The agents are yet to be rolled out to patients. Hippocratic AI founder Shah says this will not happen until clinicians determine that it is safe to do so.
Image credit: iStockphoto/PhonlamaiPhoto