Ahead of World Health Day on 7 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the launch of S.A.R.A.H., a digital health promoter [2] avatar, powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help answer health questions online.

S.A.R.A.H. also known as Sarah, is a smart AI resource assistant for health that can provide various health tips on how to destress, eat right, quit tobacco and e-cigarettes, be safer on the roads, as well as give information on several other areas of health, and can be accessed online through video or text.

The prototype represents an evolution of AI-powered health information avatars. Sarah can engage users 24 hours a day in 8 languages on multiple health topics, on any device, WHO stated.

It is trained to provide information across major health topics and aims to provide an additional tool for people to realize their rights to health, wherever they are, aligning with this year’s World Health Day theme; “My Health, My Right”, on 7 April.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The future of health is digital, and supporting countries to harness the power of digital technologies for health is a priority for WHO."

“S.A.R.A.H. gives us a glimpse of how artificial intelligence could be used in future to improve access to health information in a more interactive way. I call on the research community to help us continue to explore how this technology could narrow inequities and help people access up-to-date, reliable health information.”

WHO noted that Sarah has the ability to support people in developing better understanding of risk factors for some of the leading causes of death in the world, including cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes.

"She can help people access up-to-date information on quitting tobacco, being active, eating a healthy diet, and de-stressing among other things."

S.A.R.A.H. is now powered by generative AI rather than a pre-set algorithm or script helping her to provide more accurate responses in real-time; engage in dynamic personalized conversations at scale that more accurately mirror human interactions and provide empathetic responses to users in a judgment-free environment. The technology is supported by Soul Machines Biological AI.

Meanwhile, WHO calls for continued research on this new technology to explore potential benefits to public health and to better understand the challenges. While AI has enormous potential to strengthen public health, it also raises important ethical concerns, including equitable access, privacy, safety and accuracy, data protection, and bias.

Previous iterations of S.A.R.A.H. were used to disseminate critical public health messages, under the name “Florence”, during the COVID-19 pandemic on the virus, vaccines, tobacco use, healthy eating and physical activity.