“Alexa, did the pandemic make you smarter?” A follow up content analysis of a virtual assistant’s responses to a prenatal query

ABSTRACT

To compare responses to 40 common prenatal questions from Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, one year apart during the COVID pandemic. Participants: Two researchers replicated a prenatal query using unique Alexa devices. A conceptual content analysis was conducted where the researchers independently queried Alexa the identical questions from their 2020 study during the same one-week timeframe, between May 20, 2021 and May 27, 2021. Alexa’s responses were compared to the 2020 study and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists data and verified by one of the researchers, a Certified Nurse Midwife. Alexa provided accurate responses to 26 (65%) of the questions, an increase by 55 percentage points from 2020. Alexa was able to recite the symptoms of COVID-19 illness but was unable to provide a response to the two other COVID-specific questions. Compared to the 2020 query, Alexa provided more reputable sources for the responses including the CDC, WHO, NIH, and Mayo Clinic. Alexa’s ability to provide more accurate, evidence-based responses was remarkably improved in 2021. Mobile health tools, like Amazon Alexa, are highly utilized by the public, particularly with limited healthcare access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology-based platforms should provide credible, evidence-based content.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s health
• virtual assistant
• prenatal care
• mhealth
• health information

Data Availability Statement

For questions email corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.