AI must be developed responsibly to improve mental health outcomes

The motivation to integrate AI into mental health services has grown during the pandemic. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported an increase in adults experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression, from 1 in 10 adults pre-pandemic to 4 in 10 adults in early 2021. Coupled with a national shortage of mental health professionals as well as limited opportunities for in-person mental health support, AI-powered tools could be used as an entry point to care by automatically and remotely measuring and intervening to reduce mental health symptoms. Many mental health startups are integrating AI within their product offerings. Woebot Health developed a chatbot that delivers on-demand therapy to users through natural language processing (NLP).