SARAH: WHO’s first generative AI-based Tool for Health Promotion

In order to harness generative AI for public health, WHO has launched SARAH (Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health), a digital health promoter to help people lead a healthier life. Available 24/7 in eight languages via video or text, SARAH provides information to people on distressful situations, heathy eating, quitting tobacco and e-cigarettes, road safety, and on several other areas of health.

During COVID-19 pandemic, previous versions of digital health promoter were used under the name Florence to spread critical public health messages to people on the virus, vaccines, tobacco use, healthy eating and physical activity. Aimed to provide an additional tool for public to realize their rights to health, the latest version SARAH also provides up-to-date information on major health topics such as mental health, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes.

Compared to Florence, the new version provides more accurate and empathetic responses in real-time and engage with the users in dynamic personalized conversations that mirror human interactions. This has become possible because SARAH is powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI) rather than a pre-set algorithm. It uses new language models trained with the latest health information from the WHO and trusted partners and is supported by Biological AI of Soul Machines. Hence, it is more effective in supporting people in developing better understanding of risk factors for leading causes of death, including cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes.

The improvised tool has potential to strengthen public health. However, the responses provided by SARAH to the users may not always be accurate because they are based on patterns and probabilities in the available data. It also raises important concerns about equitable access, privacy, safety and accuracy, data protection, and bias. The mission of bringing health information closer to the people requires continuous evaluation and refinement while maintaining the highest standards of ethics and evidence-based content.

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