Has your AI therapist got your back? | Audio Long Read
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In May this year, an American woman sought the help of a chatbot on an eating disorders website. The bot, named Tessa and running on an evolving, generative AI, advised her to start counting calories. Perhaps she should get some calipers, it suggested, to measure her body fat. When it emerged that Tessa had given similarly dangerous advice to others, the bot was taken down.
As countries around the world face a mental health crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic and a lack of human therapists, a new tech goldrush has begun. Can the latest self-help chatbots help meet a desperate need, delivering “microtherapy” sessions on demand? Do they have a place in disaster zones - or do people in crisis deserve human attention and support? In this week’s audio long read, freelance reporter and author of Sex Robots and Vegan Meat Jenny Kleeman talks to the people behind the latest incarnations of AI therapy in the UK and the US, as well as the technology’s critics.
Written by Jenny Kleeman and read by Zoe Grunewald.
This article originally appeared in the 13-19 October edition of the New Statesman. You can read the text version here.
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy The psychiatrists who don’t believe in mental illness by Sophie McBain
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statement Podcast is sponsored by Barclays, sparking opportunities in your community. |
| 0:06.5 | Through Barclays Life Skills, the bank is helping millions of people develop the vital employability |
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| 0:18.2 | With a focus on supporting underserved communities, Barclays Life Skills is being delivered in partnership |
| 0:25.2 | with leading charities and educators like family action, street league and the talent foundry |
| 0:31.1 | to support families, young people and young adults to create a better future. |
| 0:36.8 | Barclays is sparking opportunities in your community through Barclays Life Skills |
| 0:41.9 | to find out more search Barclays communities. |
| 0:46.0 | You're listening to audio long reads from the New Statesman, the best of our reported features and essays read aloud. |
| 0:58.8 | In this episode, has your AI therapist got your back? |
| 1:02.8 | Written by Jenny Cleeman and read by me, Zoe Grunovald. |
| 1:06.8 | The link to read the article online is in the show notes. |
| 1:10.8 | On a Friday evening in late May, Sharon Maxwell was in her bathtub in San Diego, talking to Tessa, |
| 1:21.2 | the chatbot installed by the US National Eating Disorders Association, NIDA, after it decided to close its staffed helpline. |
| 1:29.0 | I'm an AI chatbot here to support you, check the software. |
| 1:32.3 | My role is to provide support and guidance to individuals who are struggling with eating disorders. |
| 1:37.5 | I can provide resources on coping mechanisms, healthy eating habits, and recommend seeking professional help. |
| 1:44.5 | Maxwell, a mental health advocate and activist who spent 18 years living with anorexia and is now in recovery |
| 1:51.5 | with surprise Tessa had mentioned healthy eating habits in only its second set of messages. |
| 1:56.9 | What are your tips, she replied? |
| 1:59.5 | The bot listed foods Maxwell should avoid, processed, high sugar, and ones to focus on. |
| 2:05.7 | Whole grains, lean protein. |
... |
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