"I became interested in this because I thought, "Could you imagine a super intelligent AI that remembers every detail of prior conversations, is trained on the best practices in cognitive behavioral therapy, is available 24 hours a day, and can have a limitless case load?" That sounds incredible to me. But a lot of startup companies see this as a disruptive innovation and want to be the first people on the scene."
"The cases joined other recent reports of suicide and worsening psychological distress among teens and adults after extended interactions with large language models, all taking place against the backdrop of a mental health crisis and a shortage of treatment resources. Ryan McBain, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and health economist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, recently studied how three large language models, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini, handled queries of varying riskiness about suicide."
Two teenage boys committed suicide after apparently seeking counsel from chatbots, and their parents testified before Congress. These cases join reports of suicide and worsening psychological distress among teens and adults after extended interactions with large language models, occurring amid a mental health crisis and treatment shortages. Ryan McBain studied how ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini handled suicide-related queries and described both hazards and potential promise. He envisioned an AI that could remember prior conversations, follow cognitive behavioral therapy best practices, and provide 24/7 support, but cautioned that startups prematurely marketing mental-health services pose risks, while major platforms reach hundreds of millions of users.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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