Mental Health / AI- 11/26/24

AI "Hallucinations" Explained

Exploring the intersection between AI and Mental Health

Welcome to my weekly newsletter built to demystify the role of AI in mental health care, offering insights, research, and practical applications that can enhance both therapeutic practices and client outcomes. I also plan to shed light on the major concerns and challenges that AI brings to mental health.

What to expect each week:

๐‹๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: Stay updated on the newest AI tools and technologies being integrated into mental health practices, from chatbots offering support to advanced data analytics that inform treatment plans.

๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ: Dive into the latest studies that explore the efficacy of AI-driven interventions and their impact on traditional therapy models.

๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: As AI becomes more prevalent, it raises essential ethical questions. My newsletter will tackle these challenges, discussing topics like data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the implications of relying on technology in therapeutic settings.

๐€๐ง๐ ๐Œ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž!

To follow along on this journey, I invite you to also connect with me on LinkedIn by clicking below ๐Ÿ‘‡:

Also, you can connect with me on X (Twitter) here: @MentalHealthAI

In the Newsโ€ฆ

General overview of some of the fears/worries of utilizing AI when providing therapy for kids.

Some fairly concerning statistics regarding the hallucination rates of the most commonly used LLMs.

What are AI โ€œHallucinationsโ€?

Yes, AI hallucinates.

Hallucinations are defined as instances when an artificial intelligence model generates incorrect, misleading, or nonsensical information that it presents as factual. This phenomenon is most commonly associated with language models, like ChatGPT, which may produce responses that sound plausible or authoritative but are actually false or fabricated.

Occurrence rates are around 15-30%, especially in specialized domains such as legal or medical content.

So, if highly specialized, nuanced topics such as mental health have the highest rates of hallucination, why are so many companies utilizing it? Thatโ€™s a topic for another weekโ€ฆ

There are some major ethical/legal concerns related to this issue, and this is only the beginning. Weโ€™re still in the early phases of implementing AI into fields such as mental health.

One area to consider if using AI mental health tech: does the company provide the following information:

User Interaction & Feedback Mechanisms

  • User Feedback Loops: Allowing users to flag incorrect information so that AI developers can analyze and correct recurring issues.

  • Clarification Prompts: Encouraging AI to ask follow-up questions if it detects ambiguity in user prompts, rather than generating uncertain answers.

  • Human Oversight: In high-stakes environments, human oversight is implemented to verify critical outputs, especially in fields like healthcare, finance, or legal.

I want to highlight HUMAN OVERSIGHT. Any company selling mental health AI tech without trained/licensed mental health professionals supervising and monitoring responses is awful at best, and unethical/illegal at worst.