Conversational Agents as an Aid for Cancer Survivors’ Information Search

Abstract

Cancer survivors need high-quality information to self-manage their illness, as treatments often last over 20 years. Yet, digital health technologies are in their infancy to aid cancer survivors’ navigation through the wealth of information. Simultaneously, cancer misinformation has grown exponentially on digital platforms, veering survivors from conventional therapies to untested alternative treatments. Towards this end, this conceptual paper explores the potential of conversational agents (generative artificial intelligence aids) designed to select and present credible information to aid in survivors’ long-term journey of managing cancer. Specifically, mining cancer (mis)information from diverse sources and building knowledge graphs are suggested to structure trustworthy and relatable dialogues of conversational agents for cancer survivors.