University of Alberta PhD student develops AI to identify depression

Our voices may convey subtle clues about our mood and psychological state. Now, scientists are using artificial intelligence to pick up these clues, with the aim of building voice-analyzing technologies that can identify individuals in need of mental-health care. But others caution they could do more harm than good. At the University of Alberta, computing science PhD student Mashrura Tasnim has developed a machine-learning model that can recognize the speech qualities of people with depression. Her goal is to create a smartphone application that would monitor users' conversations and alert their emergency contacts or mental-health professionals when it detects depression.