We are entering an odd era where we are relying on computers and artificial intelligence in so many aspects of our lives, that it seems natural to us. We ask our Alexa’s or Google Home devices for dinner recipes and to add groceries to our shopping list without thinking twice about it. We look to Apple’s Siri to end arguments by looking up facts and figures for us. I use the chatbot on my favorite airline’s website with regularity to compensate for their lousy copywriters when looking for information on their rewards program. Chabot’s are involved in so many aspects of our lives using them seems like second nature to many of us. So why should be surprised when a researcher starts loading up tablets with a chatbot program that can help people make “Difficult end of life decisions”? That is exactly what Professor Timothy Bickmore at Northwest University in Boston, MA is doing. He has deployed his chatbot in hospitals with patients who are over 55 and in their last year of life. It seems that out of the small sample of people in this initial test run, 44 in total, that many felt that after they spoke with the chatbot, being given spiritual and emotional advice, that they were “More than ready to finalize their last will and testament”.
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