At the end of March, HF Prévention, a national health prevention association, announced that it had created the first conversational artificial intelligence dedicated to sexual health, with the support of Gilead Sciences, a laboratory specializing in HIV testing. The virtual advisor Sacha is based on multidisciplinary expertise in sexual health and, for the first time, takes emotions into account. Users can anonymously ask questions without shame or taboo, and the AI directs them, if necessary, to the appropriate health structures and organizations.

Promoting access to information

According to the national agency Santé Publique France, the Covid-19 pandemic and containment, have decreased the screening of STDs (or STIs) and HIV by 22% in 2020 compared to 2019. However, it states that in 2020, more than 124,000 infections due to Chlamydia trachomatis, 2,500 cases of syphilis and 4,856 of HIV have been identified.

Preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is a public health issue, as is treating them. Sexuality is still a taboo subject. For most of us, it is not easy to talk about it with those around us, and this is particularly true for teenagers. Internet and social networks are becoming the main source of information, although not very reliable.

SACHA, IA trusted source of information.

HF Prévention, a national health prevention association, provides information on chronic diseases, long-term illnesses (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, etc.), but also on the prevention of STI, HIV and hepatitis contamination.

For more than four years, its teams, surrounded by experts, worked to create the AI Sacha, which they trained thanks to the recordings of about 100,000 interviews with health professionals.

Jérôme André, Director of HF Prévention, states:

“The idea was to be able to have the most fluid conversation possible that is as close to a human being as possible. To be as relevant as possible in our advice and support, both through empathy and the quality of the information provided. To teach Sacha to spot the emotions of the users in order to detect the brakes, to be able to encourage the people to deliver themselves and to free themselves in all anonymity. SACHA was developed in response to two current problems. The first is the difficulty for a large number of people to find out who to talk to when they have questions about their sexual health. The second is to dare to take the plunge for these same people and not be blocked by feelings of doubt or shame when they broach these subjects. SACHA addresses this by providing an always available and reliable source of information.”

He adds:

“HF Prévention has become over time an expert in prevention, particularly in sexual health. The association designed the first sexual health application in France, “TUP Trouver Un Préservatif et un Lieu de Dépistage en France” (Find a Condom and a Screening Site in France) and the second game changer in the world, “Virus Wars”, which received the first international prize for innovation from the UNESCO Chair in Sexual Health and Human Rights. We wanted to go further in innovation by exploiting the resources of Artificial Intelligence.”

An AI that adapts to emotions

The user launches the application, asks his question and the AI answers him by taking into account his language, his emotions, assesses the risks, guides him in his decision making and can direct him to the appropriate health structures and organizations.

Aurélien Serra, Technical Lead at Prodigious, the production agency that designed and developed the application, states:

“Sacha implements the best of artificial intelligence and human and scientific intelligence in the service of the sexual health of the greatest number. Sacha is capable of conducting “multi-turn” conversations in natural language in text and voice format thanks to Google’s advanced conversational AI pushed to its maximum: Sacha is capable of detecting certain emotions in its interlocutor to provide ever more relevance and will adapt and diversify its discourse for an experience ever closer to a conversation between human beings… In terms of technical architecture, Sacha’s engine was designed to be completely decoupled from the interfaces that allow access to its knowledge.

The application was launched earlier this year and had 12,000 users at the end of March. It is available for free on the Apple App Store for IOS, on Google Play for Android, and also from Google Home speakers for voice control.

Translated from Sacha, la première intelligence artificielle conversationnelle en santé sexuelle