Fighting COVID-19: Artificial Intelligence community to help citizens and the healthcare system

May 11, 2020

Several leaders in information technology and artificial intelligence development joined forces to enhance automated public chatbot service Chloe for COVID-19 to support Canadians in the fight against the coronavirus.

The system aims to facilitate citizens' rapid access to relevant information, and to enable healthcare system professionals to focus on tasks that require their expertise, while protecting the public and avoiding misinformation. This open source project is available on covid19.dialogue.co and will be finalized in June.

Siva Reddy, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Linguistics at McGill University and a member of Mila, is contributing to this project with the objective to create a chatbot system that supports the public by providing current and verified information about COVID-19, providing clear answers to specific questions on the subject, assessing the symptoms, assisting individuals with questions about the testing phase, and monitoring people in self-isolation to keep track of their condition.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada, information has been changing day by day, and sometimes even hourly. Anxiety is growing in the population and the number of people in need of medical advice or assistance is growing. 811 lines across the country are often overflowing, and an increasing number of people are turning to telemedicine for information or to consult a healthcare professional, while complying with containment guidelines. Therefore, it is essential to automate as many steps as possible in the patient's journey, to provide a safe service and truthful, current and accurate information to patients, while optimizing the work of health professionals and the functioning of the healthcare system.

Here is the list of AI community partners who are contributing to this open source project: