AI, Chatbot Therapy, and the Future of Psychiatry
Channel: Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Date: 2024-04-08

On April 3, 2024, Serife Tekin (of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University) spoke to the Applied Ethics Center at UMass Boston and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies on the potentials and risks of chatbot-assisted psychiatry. 

Abstract: The gulf between the needs of individuals with mental disorders and available mental health care services disproportionately affects vulnerable populations with a high risk of experiencing mental health problems. Advances in applications of artificial intelligence and the use of data analytics technology in biomedicine create some optimism, with some researchers and developers proposing that psychotherapy chatbots, i.e., artificially intelligent bots that offer cognitive behavior therapy to their users, may fill the need-availability gap by increasing mental health care resources. Proponents often list these apps' low cost, wide accessibility through cell phones, and availability in different languages as advantages and argue that these make them ideal medical tools, especially in areas with a shortage of clinicians. In this talk I raise epistemic and ethical concerns about the use of chatbots and will situate this technology in the broader framework of mental health research and care. 

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is a nonprofit think tank which promotes ideas about how technological progress can increase freedom, happiness, and human flourishing in democratic societies. We believe that technological progress can be a catalyst for positive human development so long as we ensure that technologies are safe and equitably distributed. We call this a technoprogressive orientation.