AI and mental health: can we trust AI therapy?

AI chatbots and apps are increasingly being used for mental health support. But could these new tools carry hidden risks?

In the second part of this special episode, Alisha Wainwright unpicks her own experiments with AI therapy, takes tips from Dr John Torous on staying safe when seeking help digitally, and hears about the risks of unregulated tools.

But there's hope with these tools too. Professor Miranda Wolpert reveals how AI could help scale mental health interventions in the globally and even inspire whole new forms of therapy.

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Mentioned in this episode and further reading:

• AI and mental health: "it could help revolutionise treatments" - Miranda Wolpert, Director of Mental Health, Wellcome (https://wellcome.org/insights/articles/ai-and-mental-health-help-revolutionise-treatments)
• Generating evidence for AI in health (EVAH) (https://wellcome.org/insights/articles/evah-new-initiative-generate-evidence-ai-health)

When Science Finds a Way is brought to you by Wellcome, an independent global foundation that supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. For more information and podcast transcripts visit wellcome.org/podcast