Ahead of World Health Day, focused on ‘My Health, My Right’, the World Health Organization (WHO) announces the launch of S.A.R.A.H., a digital health promoter prototype with enhanced empathetic response powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI).

S.A.R.A.H. is a Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health that represents an evolution of AI-powered health information avatars, using new language models and cutting-edge technology. It can engage users 24 hours a day in 8 languages on multiple health topics, on any device.

WHO’s digital health promoter is trained to provide information across major health topics, including healthy habits and mental health, to help people optimize their health and well-being journey. It aims to provide an additional tool for people to realize their rights to health, wherever they are.

Continuous evaluation and refinement as part of this project emphasize WHO’s dedication to bringing health information closer to people while maintaining the highest standards of ethics and evidence-based content. Developers, policy makers and health care providers need to address these ethics and human rights issues when developing and deploying AI to ensure that all people can benefit from it.

The S.A.R.A.H. project strives for continuous learning and development of a prototype that can inspire reliable, responsible and accessible information.