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. 2019 Nov;26(1):e100075.
doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2019-100075.

Evaluating the quality of voice assistants' responses to consumer health questions about vaccines: an exploratory comparison of Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri

Emily Couvillon Alagha  1 , Rachel Renee Helbing  2
Affiliations

Evaluating the quality of voice assistants' responses to consumer health questions about vaccines: an exploratory comparison of Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri

Emily Couvillon Alagha et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the quality and accuracy of the voice assistants (VAs), Amazon Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, in answering consumer health questions about vaccine safety and use.

Methods: Responses of each VA to 54 questions related to vaccination were scored using a rubric designed to assess the accuracy of each answer provided through audio output and the quality of the source supporting each answer.

Results: Out of a total of 6 possible points, Siri averaged 5.16 points, Google Assistant averaged 5.10 points and Alexa averaged 0.98 points. Google Assistant and Siri understood voice queries accurately and provided users with links to authoritative sources about vaccination. Alexa understood fewer voice queries and did not draw answers from the same sources that were used by Google Assistant and Siri.

Conclusions: Those involved in patient education should be aware of the high variability of results between VAs. Developers and health technology experts should also push for greater usability and transparency about information partnerships as the health information delivery capabilities of these devices expand in the future.

Keywords: Amazon Alexa; Amazon Echo; Google Assistant; Siri; health literacy; intelligent assistant; vaccines; voice assistant; voice search.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rubric for evaluating the quality of voice assistant responses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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