AI: OUR NEW THERAPIST?
Did you know that the World Bee Project is using AI to save bees? Did you know that AI can detect gunshots, analyze the sound and alert relevant agencies? AI can not only read and write but also predict the future! A supercomputer called Nautilus can make predictions based on the news articles that are fed to it. Did you also know that AI can read your mind? It can interpret brain signals and convert them to speech. From Google Maps to Alexa and Siri to Self Diving cars, from being able to identify specific gene mutations to improving cancer diagnostics to helping people with disabilities, AI is all around us. Recently, AI has found its way into the Mental Health sector.
Reports from the Indian Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggest that as of 2018, India needs about 20,000 Clinical Psychologists but there are only 1000 available. Researchers from NIMHANS state in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry that as of 2019, India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 1,00,000 individuals, while high-income countries have 3 Psychiatrists per 1,00,000 individuals. India thus requires about 2700 new psychiatrists every year to make up for the deficit by 2029.
Clearly, there is a rise in demand for mental health care workers, and humans are not able to handle the complexities of it. This is where AI comes into play. Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to mimic human actions. AI is not only smart but also efficient, and it does not have to deal with the stress of working overtime or emotional exhaustion.
But the question arises; can AI understand the intricacies of human emotions?
Emotion AI, also referred to as Artificial Emotional Intelligence or Affective Computing, is a subset of AI where machines study non-verbal cues of humans like body language, facial expressions, and changes in tone of voice to detect their emotional state.
Emotion AI has already been employed in several fields such as advertising and marketing. Founded in 2009, Affectiva, a spinout of MIT Media Lab, uses a person’s phone or laptop camera (only if given consent) to capture their reactions while watching a particular advertisement to gain insight into public perception. The Automotive AI platform of Affectiva can identify emotions like joy and sadness and adjust a vehicle’s in-cabin environment accordingly. Cameras and microphones can also identify passenger drowsiness and consequently lower the temperature or jolt the seatbelt.
Cogito, a company co-founded by MIT Sloan alumni in 2007, can identify the customer’s mood on the phone to help call center agents navigate their conversation accordingly.
Emotion AI is currently being developed to find employment in Mental Healthcare as well.
CompanionMx, a spinoff of Cogito was, launched in December 2018. It is a mental health monitoring app that analyzes the voice of the speaker and their phone use for signs of anxiety and mood changes. The app improves the self-awareness of the user and necessary steps can subsequently be taken. Facebook uses emotion AI to track users’ posts for the risk of suicidal behavior and alert local authorities.
Ellie, a virtual therapist, was launched as part of the University of Southern California’s SimSensei project to treat veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It identifies important nonverbal signs and multisensory information like facial expressions to help treat patients.
AI can not only help doctors and therapists to accurately assess a patient’s data and handle administrative tasks but also help with diagnosis and treatment and create an emotionally safe environment. Patients feel more comfortable opening up about their struggles without the fear of being judged by a friendly machine rather than another human being. AI also helps in increasing the quality, accessibility, and affordability of mental health treatments.
From Jarvis and Friday being personal AI assistants to Tony Stark (also known as “Iron Man”) to the T-800 being a protective father figure to Sarah and John Connor in The Terminator franchise, AI has already created a soft spot in our hearts.
But can AI be proven to be a miracle and not a menace? How can we use AI to provide treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which is considered to be the ‘Gold Standard’ of psychotherapy used to treat various disorders such as anxiety? Can AI cure Depression, one of the most common mental disorders that affect more than 264 million people worldwide? Can AI give us insight into finding a cure for serious mental disorders such as Schizophrenia? Is AI the real hero the world needs?
Stay tuned to find out the answers in the next blog!
References:
https://tdwi.org/articles/2020/04/07/adv-all-why-emotion-ai-key-to-mental-health-treatment.aspx
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/emotion-ai-explained
Garg K, Kumar C N, Chandra PS. Number of psychiatrists in India: Baby steps forward, but a long way to go. Indian J Psychiatry 2019;61:104–5. Available from: https://www.indianjpsychiatry.org/text.asp?2019/61/1/104/249673
