UC Irvine Siblings Develop ‘Empathetic’ Artificial Intelligence Tech

Pratyush Muthukumar (L) poses with his sister Karishma Muthukumar at the University of California—Irvine in Irvine, Calif., on May 15, 2023. Courtesy of Steve Zylius at University of California–Irvine

Two siblings from the University of California–Irvine have teamed up in creating their own artificial intelligence (AI) “chatbot” for use in the medical field, which they say, will be able to potentially employ empathy in its computing and operations.

The pair will present their work next month at the United Nations (UN) AI for Good 2023 Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I am absolutely delighted to announce that I will be speaking at the UN! In this Age of AI, I am thrilled to share my medical innovation and advocate for compassionate AI solutions in healthcare,” one of the siblings—Karishma Muthukumar—shared in a recent social media post. 

Both Karishma and her brother Pratyush graduated from the university last year with degrees in cognitive science and computer science, respectively.

Students walk through the University of California–Irvine campus in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 25, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

According to the siblings, their technology is geared to employ “compassion” in its interactions with patients struggling with mental health issues.

“There’s a lot of buzz around ChatGPT and similar language models that are coming out around this time, but we wanted to gear a chatbot specifically designed to consider empathy and compassion in responses,” Pratyush said in a recent statement from the school. “Patients suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental health challenges might be able to talk with a chatbot that’s empathetic.”

First Encounters With Artificial Intelligence

Karishma began learning about artificial intelligence nearly a decade ago as a teen intern at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County summer program working in the Sharon Disney Lund Medical Intelligence, Information, Investigation and Innovation Institute, where she says she began learning how to integrate artificial intelligence within healthcare technology.

A year later, at age 15, she became the youngest person ever to be honored for “best abstract in Artificial Intelligence” at the International Society for Pediatric Innovation’s annual Peds 2040 conference in San Diego, California.

She was honored again for her AI work in 2018, when she was named “Young Innovator to Watch” at the Consumer Electronics Show —an annual conference for tech innovators and developers—for her work in integrating emojis and artificial intelligence in tablets and other devices to help paralyzed patients communicate.

During her time at UC Irvine, Karishma earned the Donald A. Strauss Foundation’s public service scholarship through which she expanded her work in building “empathy” in clinical settings by founding the “Patient Project,” an on-campus organization that promotes “conversational care,” where loved ones and patients are given emotional support through talking in hospital and care center waiting rooms in an effort to improve their mental health. The program remains as an active campus organization following her graduation.

She and her brother eventually decided to collaborate on a conversational artificial intelligence bot after taking a computational biology class together.

A student crosses a walkway on the University of California–Irvine campus in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 25, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“I found it was really great to be in the same classroom with him,” Karishma said in a June 12 statement from the school. “I think that illustrates the importance of a similar dynamic with artificial intelligence as well.”

Pratyush expressed similar sentiments in combining his skillset with his sister’s when building a “compassionate” AI bot, as well as the future of such technology.

“I think that right now we’re seeing a trend of … [artificial intelligence] language models being made available to the public,” he said in the school statement. “I hope that empathy and compassion will be included as major aspects behind [how such technology is made].”

Pratyush earned the Barry Goldwater Research Scholarship at UC Irvine for his work in producing “empathy-based artificial intelligence,” and graduated last year at just 18.

He is currently at Stanford University on a scholarship to complete his master’s in computer science, specializing in artificial intelligence.

Both siblings also continue to work on their empathy-based artificial intelligence chatbot alongside Pramod Khargonekar, UC Irvine’s vice chancellor for research, and Deepan Muthirayan, a postdoctoral scholar in electrical engineering and computer science.

“Now we’re moving into an artificial intelligence world. So how do we want to shape that? That’s something that we, as a society, are collectively thinking about and deciding,” Pratyush said in the statement.