This is the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) smoking cessation app that can detect when people enter a place where they used to smoke.
Published Date – Friday, 4/14/23 at 12:00pm
Representative images.
London: Finding it hard to quit smoking? British researchers have developed a smoking cessation mobile app that can sense when and where you might be triggered to light up and help you quit.
Research at the University of East Anglia developed the app, called Quit Sense, the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) smoking cessation app, which can detect when people enter a place where they used to smoke.
It then provides support to help manage specific smoking triggers for people in the area.
The research team hopes that by helping people manage their triggers, the new app will help more smokers quit.
“We know that smoking cessation attempts often fail because staying where people used to smoke can trigger the urge to smoke. For example, this could be in a bar or at work. There is currently no other way to provide support to help other than the use of medications. Smokers cope with these types of situations and urges,” said lead researcher Professor Felix Naughton from UEA’s School of Health Sciences.
“Quit Sense is an AI smartphone app that understands the time, location and triggers of previous smoking episodes to decide when and what to show users to help them manage their urge to smoke in real time,” added Dr Chloe Siegele Say – Brown at the University of Cambridge developed the app.
The team conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 209 smokers recruited through social media. They received a link to access their assigned treatment via text message – all participants received a link to NHS online smoking cessation support, but only half also received the Quit Sense app.
After six months, participants were asked to complete follow-up online, and those who reported quitting were asked to send back saliva samples to verify their abstinence.
The findings, published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, showed that people who received the app were four times more likely to quit smoking after six months than those who only had online NHS support.
However, a limitation of this relatively small study is that less than half of those who reported quitting returned saliva samples to confirm that they had quit. The team says more research is needed to better estimate the app’s effectiveness.
