In the last few years, AI chatbots have become utterly popular, especially in customer service. Recently, Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization providing sexual health care in the US and globally, used this technology for the greater good. They launched Roo – an AI chatbot that aims to spread sex-ed knowledge. Roo was designed by Work&Co and tested in high schools to get the feedback necessary for its improvement and launching.
The main reason for this project was Planned Parenthood’s desire to create a completely free, safe, and comfortable space for young people to ask personal questions about sex, reproductive health, and relationships.
Ambreen Molitor, the senior director of the digital products lab at Planned Parenthood says
“This is independent of the fact of whether you have sex-ed at your high school, whether you have a friendly relationship with your parents and family members or not, [Roo] just allows you to have a safe space and an outlet for you to ask all of the questions and get accurate information to those questions, as well.”
,, Roo answers all the awkward questions about sexual health, relationships, growing up, and more.’’ – its slogan perfectly demonstrates what the chatbot does.
It gives teenagers from all around the world access to reliable, fact-based sexual education. The chatbot operates 24/7.
Roo users can access the chatbot through Planned Parenthood’s website: https://roo.plannedparenthood.org/chat.
They can then choose the option to talk to Roo to find answers to their questions of choice or to talk to a health educator, all through the same webpage.
Either option they choose, they have to answer a few basic questions about their name, age, sex, etc.
Then they can opt for browsing dozens of available topics about sexual health, relationships, pregnancy, bodies, etc., or asking custom questions.
Roo provides intelligent, fact-based, personalized answers and analyzes users’ words and inquiries to sometimes recommend talking to an expert or healthcare professional. The bot has gone through 6 months of machine learning before launching and with every question asked, it enlarges its database. Moreover, the bot is inclusive of different genders and sexualities.
Since its launch in 2019, Roo has conducted over 3,5 million conversations. 78% of chatbot users are teens between the ages of 13 and 19 years old.
The chatbot is completely anonymous, Planned Parenthood made sure the data will never be accessed or shared by anyone but the user, nor will it be sold, so there is no need to be concerned about privacy and safety on the chatbot’s website.
I think this webpage is one of the best ways of educating people on sexual health.
Since many adolescents did not have a proper sex-ed in school, these topics are still surrounded with a lot of confusion and are often taboo. Therefore, giving youngsters access to easily available, reliable information ensures that the new generation is well-informed and doesn’t perpetuate further any harmful sex-related stereotypes.
Resources :
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/roo-sexual-health-chatbot
https://mashable.com/article/planned-parenthood-sexual-health-chatbot
Roo is a great solution for many teens that are growing up and wishing to learn more about themselves or sex-ed in general. I’m glad to hear that nowadays, so many apps are created with hopes to help with this exact issue. It may also make certain teens feel more secure knowing that the chats are kept strictly in the software itself, and the data isn’t spread as this topic still seems to make certain young individuals uncomfortable. I hope this app will begin to spread around as it may help many young girls and boys in the future.