People are leaning on AI chatbots for mental health"therapy" and encouraging others to follow suit. But legal, ethical and safety concerns complicate the space.Once a week for the past six weeks, Tatum has put time aside to work on his mental health.
"I used to get my treatment depression in the military but since I have left I have no access to that kind of healthcare anymore."He's shared with ChatGPT details of "physical and mental" abuse from his time in the military. "I was really missing my ex one day and I asked chatgpt for advice and it was literally so comforting," one person shared. Sure, it felt "dystopian", but it also felt relieving."Weirdly, I just spent an hour talking to it, it was the most open, natural and unironically humane convo I've had in a while," another person said.
A Belgian man died by suicide in March after messaging with an AI chatbot on an app called Chai, Belgian outlet La Libre reported. Studies also suggest that a large fraction of the effectiveness of therapy is due to the relationship between the therapist and patient, she added. A therapist checks in with a client after a failure to attend a session ... If you don’t log on and speak to your chatbot, it doesn’t ‘care’.An AI program could supplement human-based mental health professionals or at the very least prompt users to seek professional support. But in its current form, she calls it a "problematic" reminder that more affordable, high-quality mental health care needs to be more available.
"I definitely think it's ethically murky - and I say that looking at the outputs that are being produced," he said. It's less of a problem for the "Microsoft's" and "Google's" in the space, Mr Hii said, but more an issue for smaller companies who might not have the resources to rein in their technology.
If I had a name like Tatum I'd prob need mental health services too.
Given politicians have a duty of care iro mentalhealth & noting the current parlous state of services funded to respond to those experiencing mentalillness - is there not a legal issue here if something goes awry? Mark_Butler_MP Emma4Dobell GabbyWilliamsMP auspol
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