AI chatbots are becoming lifelines for China’s sick and lonely

Every few months, my mother, a 57-year-old kidney transplant patient who lives in a small city in eastern China, embarks on a two-day journey to see her doctor. She fills her backpack with a change of clothes, a stack of medical reports, and a few boiled eggs to snack on. Then, she takes a 1.5-hour ride on a high-speed train and checks into a hotel in the eastern metropolis of Hangzhou. 

At 7 a.m. the next day, she lines up with hundreds of others to get her blood drawn in a long hospital…