30: Will AI Chatbots Replace Human Therapists?

Would you trust an AI chatbot with your mental health? The lack of accessible and effective interventions for mental health continues to be a worldwide problem. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) represent a potential solution, including the rise of 24-hour AI chatbots as a support tool. However, with all new technologies there is concern about the lack of regulatory oversight, potential overhyped benefits, and underestimated risk of these AI therapy apps, especially considering the highly vulnerable populations that they target. In this episode, we discuss all the promises and pitfalls of AI mental health tools with researcher Zoha Kawaja. Zoha is a third-year Master of Science candidate studying bioethics at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Calgary with over 8 years of healthcare research experience. As part of the Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (B2AI) Voice Consortium, an NIH-funded data generation project, her thesis takes an anticipatory stance to gauge the ethical demands that entail when designing and implementing artificial intelligence (AI)-technologies that utilize voice as a biomarker (voice AI) to assist clinicians in predicting, diagnosing, and monitoring mental health conditions. Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: @zohakhawaja Supervisor: Dr. Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon; [email protected] Research Lab: Sustainable People-centric Algorithmic Responsible and Knowledge-driven (SPARK) Good AI Lab at SFU Voice Consortium: https://www.b2ai-voice.org/ Author: Elena Koning Email: [email protected] Instagram: @thinktwice_podcast LinkedIN: Think Twice Podcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThinkTwicePodcast Disclaimer: Think Twice is a podcast for general information and entertainment purposes only. The content discussed in the episodes does not reflect the views of the podcast committee members or any institution they are affiliated with. The use of the information presented in this podcast is at the user’s own risk and is not intended to replace professional healthcare services.