The NHS is trialling an AI chatbot to answer your medical questions

In an experimental trial, the National Health Service across parts of London is going to test an artificial intelligence app as a way for potential patients to find out how urgent their problems are. More than 1.2 million people living in Camden, Islington, Enfield and Barnet will be able to use a chatbot created by Babylon as an alternative to the non-emergency 111 number. The trial, which will run for six months, will allow people to enter their symptoms into the app and receive responses based on what they have entered. When the app is looking for answers to the questions it will consult a large database of symptoms and illnesses. According to a report in the Financial Times, the app's algorithm will "judge the urgency" of a person's condition and then advise the patient what to do next.