1037 - Chatbots, Mental Health, and Suicide
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
People are increasingly turning to AI chatbots for therapeutic purposes—but these platforms are built for engagement, not mental health care. In this episode: Laura Reiley, whose daughter took her own life after confiding in a chatbot, explains why this technology is ill-equipped to treat those struggling with their mental health and how a transparent regulatory system could establish responsible practices for AI companies.
Note: This episode includes discussions of suicidality and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, there is 24-hour assistance in the United States available by dialing 988.
Guest:
Laura Reiley is a journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Baltimore Sun. She is currently a writer for the Cornell Chronicle.
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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What My Daughter Told ChatGPT Before She Took Her Life—New York Times
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The family of teenager who died by suicide alleges OpenAI's ChatGPT is to blame—NBC News
-
Summary of Artificial Intelligence 2025 Legislation—National Conference of State Legislatures
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Register of Suicides—Centre for Suicide Research
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Should AI Be Your Therapist?—Public Health On Call (July 2025)
Transcript information:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Rogers. |
| 0:33.9 | Today, a candid discussion of AI chatbots and mental health. Laura Riley is a journalist |
| 0:39.9 | whose daughter died by suicide after months of confiding in chat GPT. She joins Dr. Josh |
| 0:46.5 | Sharfstein to explain how this technology failed her family and what might be done to make it safer. |
| 0:52.4 | Just to note that this podcast includes discussions |
| 0:55.1 | of suicidality and suicide. |
| 0:57.9 | If you or someone you know is struggling, |
| 0:59.7 | there is 24-hour assistance in the United States |
| 1:02.0 | available by dialing 988. |
| 1:04.7 | Let's listen. |
| 1:05.7 | Laura Riley, thank you so much for joining me today |
| 1:07.8 | on Public Health on call. |
| 1:08.8 | How are you? |
| 1:09.6 | I'm good. |
| 1:10.1 | How are you, Josh? |
| 1:19.4 | I'm doing okay. I appreciate that spring is finally here. It is not here in Ithaca, New York. Not even a little. |
| 1:31.1 | Let's start by having you introduce yourself to our audience. Okay. I have been a newspaper journalist for, I don't know, I think for 32 years. I was at various U.S. newspapers. Mostly have written about food my whole life early on kind of as a food |
| 1:37.8 | critic and a former chef and then more and more about kind of food equity issues and nutrition, science, and agriculture. |
... |
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