In a rapidly evolving digital age, artificial intelligence is leading the charge to reform various sectors previously dominated by humans, even mental health care. Artificial intelligence is already being used to streamline administrative tasks and detect early indicators that call for intervention, but more progressive machine learning models are even beginning to substitute the role of licensed therapists.
Digital therapeutics, as it has been coined, involve the usage of AI models that interact and converse with patients much like a human would. This novel technology has raised concerns as to the extent that AI can replicate human interactions with patients and whether their services are a potentially viable alternative to human therapists and psychologists.
Griffin Leuer ‘26, President of the Hope Squad, believes that human intervention efforts are pivotal to effective mental health outreach. “When you’re dealing with these kinds of issues, you need to have that one-on-one connection to really engage the other person and sway their feelings. “It’s essential in trying to encourage them to seek help and getting them to stop feeling so negative and depressed.”
Though he believes that AI will prove to be a useful tool in mental health care, Leuer doesn’t think that it will ever fully replace humans. “I don’t think we can entirely rely on a program detecting signals,” said Leuer. “Sometimes you need that one-on-one experience to actually realize what type of emotions the other person is feeling.”
Artificial intelligence technology is already being utilized on Brophy devices to detect signs of poor mental health. FlintAI will notify administration if it detects a message indicative of self-harm during an interaction with a student.
Mr. Mica Mulloy, Assistant Principal for Instruction and Innovation, says that he has only received one of these notifications since the implementation of FlintAI and that, thankfully, it was a false alarm.
However, regarding AI’s role in mental health care beyond simple detection systems, he believes there is a world of potential to tap into, especially in light of the current state of the mental health care system.
“There is far greater demand for mental health care than there are available providers,” said Mr. Mulloy. “Insurance coverage for mental health care is inconsistent, which means that not only are there not enough providers for those who need mental health care, but there are some people who need it who can’t even afford it at all.”
“What if we can get to the point where anybody in some sort of mental health need has something they can turn to? Just to help themselves is not going to be the equivalent of talking to a mental health care professional at all, but it can help, right?”
The usage of artificial intelligence in mental health care is controversial to say the least, with those in opposition citing fears of losing humanity in such an emotional experience and those in favor embracing the opportunities it could extend to underprivileged and underserved communities. Regardless, as artificial intelligence continues to evolve at an ever-rapid pace, all that the Brophy community—and the rest of the world for that matter—can do is wait and see how much progress is truly enough to justify such a level of technological incorporation.