What is the partnership between Soula and Google about?

Soula partnered with Google to enhance its AI-powered pregnancy and parenting support. The collaboration involved using Google's Med-PaLM language model, designed to answer medical questions, to help provide information on pregnancy, postpartum, and maternity-related topics.

What is Google's Med-PaLM?

Med-PaLM is a large language model developed by Google for answering medical questions. It was designed to support health-related information tasks and was part of Soula's initiative to improve AI-powered maternity support.

How can Soula support women during pregnancy and postpartum?

Soula's AI-powered assistant is designed to provide accessible information and support for questions related to pregnancy, maternity, and the postpartum period. It can help women explore health-related concerns and parenting questions, while medical concerns should be discussed with a qualified healthcare professional.

Does Soula replace a doctor or midwife?

No. Soula is a digital support tool, not a substitute for professional medical care. Women should consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or urgent pregnancy and postpartum concerns.

Soula App Partners With Google for Pregnancy AI Support

Cyprus-based femtech start-up Soula has partnered with Google to provide pregnancy and parenting support. FemTech World reported the news on June 30, 2023, and CBN Cyprus followed on July 10.

TL;DR

Soula will use Google's Med-PaLM, a medical large language model, in its AI assistant.
Google Cloud awarded Soula US$350,000 in credits to finetune the chatbot.
The app was previously backed by model Natalia Vodianova.

How Soula Uses Google's Med-PaLM

Soula will use Med-PaLM, Google's large language model (LLM) designed to generate answers to medical questions, to offer women pregnancy, postpartum and maternity support through its "AI-powered" assistant. The app, previously backed by model Natalia Vodianova, will be able to answer questions on pregnancy and maternity matters and give information on various health-related concerns, according to FemTech World.

Women Can Ask About Health, Lifestyle and Nearby Care

The assistant is set to handle:

questions on pregnancy and maternity matters;
tracking foetal movement and kick frequency;
lifestyle questions on nutrition, sleep, physical activity and emotional self-care;
the locations of nearby medical centres, based on the user's location;
guidance on breastfeeding, postpartum physical recovery and postpartum depression.

Natallia Miranchuk, Soula's founder and CEO, says that with the medical LLM Soula tailors personalised responses. The company argues that the assistant shows new chatbot abilities in mental health: factual replies, up-to-date statistics and answers to emotional issues.

$350,000 in Google Cloud Credits

In addition to access to its Med-PaLM 2 LLM, Google Cloud awarded Soula US$350,000 worth of credits to finetune the chatbot and give access to new technological opportunities, FemTech World reports.

Miranchuk Says AI Complements Human Experts

CBN Cyprus and FemTech World quote Natallia Miranchuk on the role of AI next to human experts:

"While human experts are quite expensive and not readily available at all hours of the day, AI provides a valuable complement to them by effectively addressing the concerns of pregnant women around the clock, ensuring continuous care and support,"

On the Google partnership, she said:

"The fact that Google has shown trust in Soula and its mission means that we are doing the right thing."

She added that Soula's model is finetuned with the expertise of parenthood educators and certified doulas.

Sources

Features Editor, Femtech start-up teams up with Google to provide pregnancy and parenting support, FemTech World, June 30, 2023.
Soula app teams up with Google to provide pregnancy and parenting support, CBN Cyprus, July 10, 2023.