ABSTRACT
Covid-19 has accelerated the need and use of artificial Intelligence-based healthcare Chabots. Penetration of the internet, smartphone, computational capability and machine learning technology brings healthcare services close to the patients. The penetration of AI healthcare Chatbot technology worldwide is on the rise. However, the healthcare ecosystem in India is unique and poses challenges in the adoption of healthcare chatbots. The demographic characteristics, economic conditions, diversity, belief systems on health-seeking, and alternative medical practices play a role in accepting and using chatbots. In this study, we attempt to model the factors influencing the intention and the purpose of using the chatbot. Through a literature review, we identify the variables related to the adoption of healthcare chatbots. We then focus on the more relevant concepts to the Indian context and develop a conceptual model. Through cases and literature, we frame the propositions of the study. We look at the awareness of chatbot features, perception towards the chatbot, trust and mistrust of the healthcare system, the doctors and the chatbots, health-seeking behavior, and the belief in traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine prevalent in India. This study contributes by developing an initial conceptual model for healthcare chatbots adoption in the Indian context. In the future, we plan to operationalize the study and test the propositions through an elaborate survey to validate the model empirically. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing a paradigm shift in all spheres of the world by mimicking human cognitive behavior. The application of AI in healthcare is noteworthy because of availability of voluminous data and mushrooming analytics techniques. The various applications of AI, especially, machine learning and neural networks are used across different areas in the healthcare industry. Healthcare disruptors are leveraging this opportunity and are innovating in various fields such as drug discovery, robotic surgery, medical imaging, and the like. The authors have discussed the application of AI techniques in a few areas like diagnosis, prediction, personal care, and surgeries. Usage of AI is noteworthy in this COVID-19 pandemic situation too where it assists physicians in resource allocation, predicting death rate, patient tracing, and life expectancy of patients. The other side of the coin is the ethical issues faced while using this technology like data transparency, bias, security, and privacy of data becomes unanswered. This can be handled better if strict policy measures are imposed for safe handling of data and educating the public about how treatment can be improved by using this technology which will tend to build trust factor in near future. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.