The first trial of generative AI therapy shows it might help with depression

Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shared the vision, noting that fewer than half of people with a mental disorder receive therapy, and those who do might get only 45 minutes per week. Researchers have tried to build tech so that more people can access therapy, but they have been held back by two things. One, a therapy bot that says the wrong thing could result in real harm. That’s why many researchers have built bots using explicit programming: The software pulls from a finite bank of approved responses (as was the case with Eliza, a mock-psychotherapist computer program built in the 1960s). But this makes them less engaging to chat with, and people lose interest. The second issue is that the hallmarks of good therapeutic relationships—shared goals and collaboration—are hard to replicate in software. In 2019, as early large language models like OpenAI’s GPT were taking shape, the researchers at Dartmouth thought generative AI might help overcome these hurdles. They set about ... Read full article.