Dr. Bezos Is Ready to See You Now
Britain's NHS is teaming up with Alexa to give advice on common illnesses. Amazon looks like the more obvious beneficiary of the partnership.
Call the doctor.
Photographer: ROBERT LEVER/AFPThe idea of turning to Amazon.com Inc.’s gaffe-prone Alexa in a medical emergency has always seemed to be a bit of a sick joke. YouTube is packed with examples of amusing ways in which the “black, always-on cylinder the size of a Pringles can” – that’s CEO Jeff Bezos’s own description of the smart speaker – fails the Turing Test. “Alexa, I need medical assistance immediately,” says one user, before getting the soothing yet robotic answer: “I added ‘medical assistance immediately’ to your shopping list.”
That hasn’t dissuaded Britain’s National Health Service from trying out the technology for everyday health questions about common illnesses. On Wednesday it announced a partnership with Amazon to help patients get information from the NHS website via voice commands. Ideally, you should be able to ask Alexa things like “how do I treat a migraine?” and get a response sourced from the website in seconds. (Incidentally, the NHS website’s answer to that question is: “There’s currently no cure for migraines, although a number of treatments are available to help ease the symptoms.”)