We organized the Workshop on Chatbots and Health, bringing together a group of expert speakers to offer a series of presentations and discussions on the recent developments and ongoing challenges with chatbots for health-related applications. The program began with an overview of key learnings from our Look Who’s Talking project, followed by a demonstration of the Tilbot software designed for creating chatbots. Further sessions explored how chatbots can be applied to sensitive health topics, the use of human feedback to refine chatbot interventions, and healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the use of chatbots in the context of health. The program concluded with a discussion on future directions for the field. The workshop was hosted at Tilburg University on May 14, 2025, in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Program
| 09:45 – 10:00 | Welcome with coffee/tea | ||
| 10:00 – 10:10 | Introduction: What did we learn in the Look Who’s Talking project? | Emiel Krahmer | Tilburg University |
| 10:10 – 10:30 | Tilbot for health chatbots | Jan de Wit | Tilburg University |
| 10:30 – 10:50 | Can chatbots help to navigate sensitive territory? Insights from two domains: sexual harassment and vaccination | Karolien Poels | University of Antwerp |
| 10:50–11:10 | Coffee/tea | ||
| 11:10–11:30 | Human feedback for a chatbot-based smoking cessation intervention: Psychological, economic, and ethical factors | Nele Albers | Tilburg University |
| 11:30–11:50 | Waiting to get treatment: Exploring the perspectives of (mental) healthcare professionals on a chatbot intervention for waitlisted clients | Emmelyn Croes | Tilburg University |
| 11:50–12:.00 | Final words: What can we expect in the future? | Reinout Wiers | University of Amsterdam |
| 12:00–13:00 | Lunch |