May 2023.
Cancer patients looking for quick answers or support between their appointments can now turn to “Dave,” an artificial intelligence chatbot trained to discuss all things related to oncology.
Launched earlier this month by Belong.Life, a New York-based health technology company, Dave is described as the world’s first conversational AI oncology mentor for cancer patients.
“Dave has aided patients in understanding their situations and equipping them with valuable information to engage in informed discussions with their physicians,” said Irad Deutsch, co-founder and CTO of Belong, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Some of the most common questions include potential treatments for diagnoses and what to expect in terms of side effects, he said.
Dave is a large language model (LLM) that is similar to ChatGPT. Yet instead of being trained on more general data, it focuses only on cancer-related topics.
Inspired by personal experiences
“The founders of Belong, along with many members of our company, have witnessed firsthand the impact of cancer on our families,” Deutsch said.
We understand the immense stress that arises when questions arise, even at 2 a.m., and there’s no one available to provide answers.”
The team’s goal in creating Dave, he said, was to alleviate patients’ stress levels and reduce their anxiety by delivering comprehensive, real-time answers around the clock.
The chatbot was named after the biblical King David, Deutsch said, who employed his wisdom to triumph over Goliath.
Dave can be accessed on Belong’s Beating Cancer Together app on “Ask Dave now – AI Mentor” group
