How AI ‘therapists’ and machine learning could be the answer to affordable mental health care – MarketWatch
“Alexa, I’m depressed.” The idea that a tabletop virtual assistant such as Alexa or Siri knows or cares how you’re feeling sounds straight out of some neurotic comedy. Today, at least.
Mental health is a brave new frontier for artificial-intelligence and machine-learning algorithms driven by “big data.” Before long, if some forward-looking psychologists, doctors and venture-capital investors have their way, your therapist could be a virtual human able to listen, counsel and even bill for that 50-minute hour.
“AI will be a game-changer,” says James Lake, a California psychiatrist and author of a series of self-help e-books showing individuals how to integrate a broad-based plan for their mental health. AI tools, he adds, will allow mental-health providers to “optimize patient care on the basis of each individual’s unique history, symptoms, needs, financial constraints and preferences.”