Study Term
2026

Status
In Progress

Joining a clinical trial begins with informed consent, but the process can be time-consuming, difficult to access remotely, and challenging for some older adults. This pilot will develop and test the Voice Agent Informed Consent Assistant (VICA), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice assistant that can guide people through a clinical trial consent form over the telephone. VICA will read study information aloud, answer participants’ questions, and assess whether they understand the information needed to make an informed decision about participating. The goal is not to replace conversations with research staff, but to provide an additional option that makes the consent process more convenient, engaging, and accessible, especially for decentralized clinical trials and people who cannot easily attend in-person visits. The pilot will include 100 adults aged 55 and older recruited through the UCSF Brain Health Registry, with a focus on including people with mild cognitive impairment and individuals from communities disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Results will help determine whether AI voice technology can improve the informed consent experience and support more inclusive participation in future AD research. 

Participant and community feedback will guide every stage of this pilot. Before testing begins, the research team will work with UCSF Community Science Partnership Boards made up of community members, including individuals from Black and Latino communities and people with lived experience related to AD. These partners will provide input on the AI voice assistant’s design, the consent process, and plans for sharing results. During the pilot, participants will complete surveys and provide comments about their experience using the AI voice assistant, including how easy it was to use, whether it answered their questions, and how comfortable they felt during the interaction. The research team will combine this feedback with technical performance data to improve the AI voice assistant, VICA, between pilot rounds. This iterative approach will help ensure that VICA is understandable, user-friendly, culturally responsive, and designed to meet the needs of diverse older adults.