title: UK health service to use Amazon Alexa to give medical advice
url: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/452397-uk-health-service-to-use-amazon-alexa-to-give-medical-advice
hash_url: ee1e672a6abc1a35cd1f8e29f8a4b318

<p>The United Kingdom's health care service, the NHS, is partnering with Amazon's voice assistant Alexa to deliver medical advice to users from the service’s official website.</p><p>The NHS <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-health-information-available-through-amazon-s-alexa">announced Wednesday</a> that the "technology has the potential to reduce the pressure" on doctors, citing the increased use of digital voice assistants for online searches.</p>
<p>"We want to empower every patient to take better control of their healthcare and technology like this is a great example of how people can access reliable, world-leading NHS advice from the comfort of their home, reducing the pressure on our hardworking GPs and pharmacists," Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said in a statement.</p><p>The move has raised concerns from privacy experts and advocates concerned about the implications of distributing medical information via digital assistant. </p><p>“Amazon is a company with a worrying track record when it comes to the way they handle their users’ data,” Eva Blum-Dumontet, a researcher at Privacy International, <a href="https://apnews.com/f6e7a41982ff4230b8d34e5648effd9b">told The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>“Our medical information is often the most sensitive data there is about us and a lot can be inferred from the questions we ask and the searches we make when we have health concerns.”</p><p><a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Amazon%20Senator%20Coons__Response%20Letter__6.28.19%5B3%5D.pdf">In a letter</a> to Sen. <span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="188236" href="/people/christopher-coons">Christopher Coons</a><span class="rollover-people-block" id="rollover-people-188236"><span class="rollover-block"><span><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="/sites/default/files/styles/thumb_100/public/coonschris_gregnash.jpg?itok=p44GbLFj" width="100" height="100" alt="" /><a class="name" href="/people/christopher-coons">Christopher (Chris) Andrew Coons</a><a class="people-articles" href="/homenews/senate/452822-trump-nominees-meet-fiercest-opposition-from-warren-sanders-gillibrand">Trump nominees meet fiercest opposition from Warren, Sanders, Gillibrand</a> <a class="people-articles" href="/homenews/senate/452584-senate-democrats-skipping-pences-border-trip">Senate Democrats skipping Pence's border trip</a> <a class="people-articles" href="/homenews/senate/452408-gop-chairman-introduces-bill-to-force-comprehensive-review-of-us-saudi">GOP chairman introduces bill to force 'comprehensive review' of US-Saudi relationship</a> <a class="more" href="/people/christopher-coons">MORE<span></span></a></span></span></span></span> (D-Conn.) earlier this month, Amazon revealed it keeps voice recordings and transcripts to help train its AI until users manually delete them.</p><p>Amazon said it erases transcripts "from all of Alexa's primary storage systems" when users manually delete voice recordings. </p>
<p>An Amazon spokesperson told The Hill that information related to medical questions will not be shared with third parties or used to create health profiles of users.</p>
