Introducing SAM: A research-based LLM

SAM is a Large Language Model (LLM) powered platform that provides support and information to patients through text.

Compared to other AI chatbots, SAM integrates behavior models in clinical psychology to motivate and maintain positive behavior change, and is also able to interface with patients’ FitBit data to provide personalized and timely feedback. SAM references articles produced by doctors and academics to provide accurate, grounded, and truthful information.

A Large Language Model is an algorithm for generating text. At its core, the algorithm takes in a sentence as input and predicts the most likely word that follows the sentence. For example, if a user inputs the phrase “President of the United”, the model will likely output the word “States”. The output is fed back into the model, and the process of predicting the next word repeats until a coherent passage is obtained.

Modern LLMs can either be closed-weight or open-weight. Closed-weight models are proprietary models that can only be accessed through an app or website. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini are closed-weight models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, respectively. Open-weight models are models where the parameters are fully exposed. Any user, with sufficient hardware, can download the model onto their own device, and use it without an internet connection. Such models include Llama, Gemma, Qwen, by Meta, Google, and Alibaba. SAM is powered by Llama 3.1 8B – a general purpose LLM released by Meta.

Yes! Your data is absolutely secure. While we do keep your data on our computers, we do not share your data with anyone else.In fact, since we use a closed-weight model, the model doesn’t even have access to internet!

That being said, as with any other platform, we have no control over your data as it flows through the network to reach our computers. Always exercise caution when it comes to providing personal information. Never disclose details such as your credit card details or social security number. SAM will not ask you for that information, nor should you ever provide it.

SAM is hosted and maintained by ViVE at UNC-Chapel Hill. You can test interacting with SAM via the above link. However, to customize with your research needs, contact us at vive@unc.edu to schedule a discussion.