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Through a partnership with the National Health Service (NHS), Alexa is ready to gain medical knowledge in the UK.
The health service said it was teaming up with Amazon's voice badistant to answer medical questions by visiting the service's official website.
Starting this week, UK users who ask Alexa questions about health – "Alexa, what are the symptoms of the flu?" – will receive validated answers from NHS health professionals.
The British Ministry of Health (DoH) said that this measure would reduce pressure on NHS professionals in the country, providing users with an easy way to access authoritative medical advice.
The NHS also said it wanted similar collaboration with other technology companies.
With voice research technology on the rise, the Ministry of Health's decision is likely to benefit seniors and the visually impaired, who may have trouble finding such information on screen-enabled devices.
Amazon is currently looking for sources such as Mayo Clinic and WebMD for answers to medical questions, but adding reliable sources is the way to get the right answers.
I strongly favor the use of information technologies in health, but ….
How is the data encrypted?
Who has access to the data?
Where are the stored data?
Will the data be used for marketing?
Will the data be sold?
What happens if a serious diagnosis is possible from the patient's request? https://t.co/AeVQFBvSWP– Dr. David Wrigley (@DavidGWrigley) July 10, 2019
But it goes without saying that patients with complex health needs should not rely entirely on Alexa as their only source of advice, not to mention the issues raised about privacy and data security.
"Amazon is a company with a troubling history of how they process their users' data," said Privacy International. "Our medical information is often the most sensitive data on us and much can be deduced from the questions we ask and the research we do when we have health problems."
The retail giant, however, noted that personal information will remain confidential and will not be shared with third parties, used to sell products or create a health profile.
Since Alexa already answers questions about the health status of users, some of the concerns may be exaggerated. But it will be interesting to see how this debate unfolds.
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Posted on 11 July 2019 – 07:41 UTC
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