Is ‘chatty’ Dolores AI the answer to chronic pain?

Back pain, arthritis or nerve damage? Aussies are sending texts like these when they experience chronic pain. This is why it’s helpful.

A chatbot named Dolores is helping Australians with chronic pain self-manage their symptoms.

Developed by Australian researchers, the results of a pilot study investigating its potential will be presented on Friday at a major international scientific meeting.

Led by clinical researcher Dr Nicole Andrews, the study involved 60 Australian patients who tested the chatbot’s ability to accurately guide them to manage their pain.

Clinical researcher Dr Nicole Andrews from the University of Queensland’s RECOVER Injury Research Centre. Image: Supplied.

Dr Andrews is part of the University of Queensland’s RECOVER Injury Research Centre.

The aptly named Dolores, the Spanish word for pain, proved to be honest and reliable for the patients on the study.

Dr Andrews said the chatbot, which is a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, is based on an older AI model developed by the CSIRO.

“Dolores has the ability to understand, interpret and generate human language, but she is not as intelligent as the larger language models such as ChatGPT,” Dr Andrews said.

This can work to her advantage.

“It means she is not as ‘risky’. She won’t make things up or appear really confident when she’s saying something wrong,” Dr Andrews said.

She said Dolores will also admit if she doesn’t know an answer, but could tell the user she will find out for them, like a clinican would.

This chatbot has also been designed to help protect privacy as she runs on the patient’s phone without the internet which means data is not shared.

Dr Andrews will present the results of the study at the 2025 symposium of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) in Cairns on Friday.

“Our study suggests that chatbots could play an essential role in enhancing chronic pain management, particularly in making education more accessible and personalised for patients of all ages,” she said.

People aged from 10 years with chronic pain took part in the study where Dolores captured their pain history to help educate them about treatment options.

Interestingly, Dr Andrews said, most patients preferred to use the program’s drawing feature to interact with Dolores.

One in five Australians over the age of 45 suffer chronic pain. Picture: iStock

“It was a really great way for people to express their pain, what the pain felt like and the influence it was having on them,” she said.

“So we thought that was really important to enhance that feature with a novel AI. Drawing helps people communicate and gives them a different option of communicating and expressing their pain.”

Dr Andrews said the participants reported Dolores helped them feel more in control of their pain management and provided an accessible way to learn more about their condition.

Chronic pain affects around one in five Australians aged 45 years and over. Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also reveals women are more likely to suffer chronic pain with long term conditions.

Digital health tools like Dolores could help improve chronic pain management globally. Image: Supplied.

Dr Andrews said digital health tools like Dolores could help improve pain management globally, in particular for patients post discharge from a hospital or clinic.

“We’re looking at ways that the AI can learn from the clinician and the clinician interaction during that treatment,” she said. “So someone gets an AI post discharge that is personalised to them and can help them continue their journey without a health professional.

“This research supports the idea that pain education delivered via a chatbot is not only feasible, but also highly acceptable to people.”

Next the team that included researchers from the University of Queensland, CSIRO and Queensland Health, plan to develop a feature where Dolores can problem solve for patients and direct them to the best place to go for further treatment.

Originally published as Is ‘chatty’ Dolores AI the answer to chronic pain?