75% of Trial Participants Benefited from AI Therapy Bot

In a groundbreaking clinical trial, 75% of participants with depression, anxiety, or at risk for eating disorders reported benefits from interacting with an AI therapy bot named Therabot. Developed by a team at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine, the project began in 2019 and involved over 100 people contributing more than 100,000 hours. Initially, training Therabot on internet conversations about mental health proved disastrous, as the bot mimicked the negative sentiments it learned. Shifting to therapy session transcripts improved the responses but still fell short of ideal therapeutic interactions. Success came when the researchers used data sets based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. This trial’s results raise questions about the effectiveness of other AI therapy bots, many of which lack evidence-based training. The future of AI therapy hinges on whether these bots will adopt better training data and if they can achieve FDA approval.

Source: www.technologyreview.com