Just in time for new year’s resolutions, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is releasing a free app that employs an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to help people stop smoking.
Through an avatar named Ellen, the QuitBot app can engage in conversations with users, sharing science-based information to support smokers trying to resist the urge to light up.
Researchers at Seattle-based Fred Hutch spent six years developing and testing the app. They said the QuitBot solution differs from other tools because it provides personalized coaching whenever a user needs it.
The app includes 32 short conversations that span a two-week phase leading up to someone quitting smoking, and four weeks following their quit date. The discussions cover topics such as a smoker’s motivations to quit, identifying and coping with triggers for smoking, and how to reset if the cravings win out.
The app “learns about these things,” said Dr. Jonathan Bricker, professor and behavioral science researcher in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch. He discussed QuitBot in a video with Trevor Noah promoting the app.
“Then it comes back to you later and reminds you, ‘Remember why you’re quitting: This is for your family; this is for your relationships; this is to take care of your body,’” Bricker said. “And then it gives us specific tools on how to deal with those triggering situations.”
Nicotine is more addictive than heroine or cocaine, he added, and tobacco use kills 8 million people each year worldwide — and there are not enough healthcare providers to address the addiction.
The app is free on Apple and Android devices.
Fred Hutch researchers currently are collecting data from a randomized trial of more than 1,600 QuitBot users to understand how the app is performing. Preliminary information shows that users of QuitBot are engaging with it longer than users of previous smoking cessation tools developed by the Fred Hutch, Bricker said.
The QuitBot project launched with funding from the National Cancer Institute. Researchers then partnered with the Microsoft AI for Good Lab to fine-tune the app’s chat capabilities.
Microsoft has been rolling out various new AI-powered tools and services, building off its partnership with OpenAI.
In the video with Noah, Bricker said the app could be applied to other addictions and bad habits. Fred Hutch has plans to develop a similar tool for addressing food cravings for someone trying to lose weight.
“It was very, very hard to get this program to understand what people meant when they asked a question,” he said. “We’ve overcome a lot of those challenges.”
As Fred Hutch is developing technology for beneficial causes, the health organization remains the target of a cyberattack launched on Nov. 19, 2023. The attackers accessed personal information for roughly 1 million past and current patients, and they’ve sent threatening emails to patients demanding ransom payments.
Federal law enforcement is continuing to investigate the attack, which appears to have originated outside of the U.S., according to Fred Hutch officials.
