Yulia Karra
May 24, 2023

With artificial intelligence slowly taking over the tech world, the latest medical development is out to change the minds of many AI skeptics.

Meet “Dave,” an AI chatbot that offers support to cancer patients in what is said to be the world’s first virtual oncology mentor.

Cancer is projected to affect nearly two million people this year in the United States alone, but information and access to treatments can oftentimes be limited.

Developed by health-tech provider Belong.Life, Dave aims to improve access to quality cancer care everywhere. It can tailor answers empathetically to a patient’s needs, retaining memory of previous conversations during ongoing communication.

Meet Dave, world’s first AI chatbot for cancer patients
AI chatbot Dave. Photo courtesy of Belong.Life

Available free of charge on Belong. Life’s Beating Cancer Together app, the chatbot was trained using information from the Israel-based company’s database.

Cofounder and CTO of Belong.Life Irad Deutsch said Dave has been tested by more than 10,000 cancer patients and “received tremendous gratitude from users and has been proven valuable by the frequent patient use and the many follow-up interactions.”

Meet Dave, world’s first AI chatbot for cancer patients
Ask Dave. Photo courtesy of Belong.Life

Belong.Life Chief Medical Director Dr. Daniel Vorobiof said that in his 40 years treating cancer patients, he has realized the importance of “empathetic and accurate correspondence” with those suffering “complex and challenging” diseases.

“During Dave’s development and validation, we continuously improved the accuracy of the AI mentor to provide users with supportive and accurate information during their journey,” he said.

Co-founder and CEO Eliran Malki added that Belong “is currently developing additional conversational AI mentor and companion platforms for other health indications and organizations.”

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