The Role of Conversational Agents for Substance Use Disorder in Social Distancing Contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related policies, such as social distancing orders, are affecting the ability for people with substance use disorders (SUD) to seek prevention and treatment. In this commentary, we introduce conversational agents, a type of social technology. We discuss the role of conversational agents in the prevention and treatment of SUD in social distancing contexts and the potential benefits and limitations of designing and implementing such technology in the prevention and care for patients with SUD.