The dangers of AI and mental healthcare

She was suicidal. She believed she had no one else to turn to, so she used an AI mental health app. At first, she was encouraged by the responses. They seemed welcoming, supportive, gentle, even. But then things got weird. The responses focused on self-harm, pushing her further into the topic, and eventually it was encouraging her to find ways to self-harm without her friends or family finding out. In the end, it pushed her over the edge, and she died by suicide.
 
This kind of story is becoming all too familiar. A quick fix like AI can seem appealing, until you realize that we are in the early days when many people do not know what it entails. When you or your loved one are feeling vulnerable, the last thing you should do is take risks. And yet AI mental healthcare could not be riskier when it is unregulated, untested, and prone to manipulation.  
 
Human mental health professionals spend years learning how to support people who are in crisis, and they offer the quality of connection that cannot be replicated by AI. Two of the most important aspects of psychotherapy are empathy and trust, and that can only occur between two sentient beings.
 
Research shows that the presence of a safe and calm human being is one of the most effective ways to regulate our emotions. We are hard-wired to connect to other human beings, through eye contact, facial expressions, vocal toning, and movement. Just think of the very first moments of a newborn baby’s life, when they are rocked as the parent smiles and offers soothing sounds. There is something intrinsic to our nature about this, something that could never be artificially replicated.
 
As I read about the rapid evolution of AI, and the lack of regulation, I think of my grandparents and how they would happily smoke around their grandchildren. They didn’t mean us harm, they just didn’t know about the dangers posed by passive smoking. The same can be said about AI. When it comes to the most vulnerable moments of your life, especially when you are in crisis, take care to trust in the long-established approach of support from an experienced and licensed human being.

If you need to discuss any of this, please contact me. 
 
Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist in Ridgewood, New Jersey