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role of therapists, children and young people forming bonds with AI personas, calls for tougher regulations, and more recently, OpenAI promising safety updates to support people with mental distress. For those of us working in this space, an important question comes to mind: are we doing enough, quickly enough, to protect the people who need support with their mental wellbeing? It’s not surprising to see this quick innovation and evolution happening. We’ve seen the same thing before with social media. Everyone rushed online and started using social media, but the rules and regulations didn’t catch up until much later. In the UK, only recently were regulations put in place to better protect people online, especially children and young people.
What are the dangers for mental health?
When it comes to how people are using AI for support with their mental health, we must make changes now. From our work with children and young people over the past 20+ years, I have seen first-hand how damaging access to harmful content can be and the extent of the risks facing children and young people seeking support online. A recent study reported by The Guardian showed that 97% of Instagram Reels and 96% of TikToks recommended to young girls contained harmful content, material that reinforced unhealthy body image ideals or normalised self-harm.
We are seeing similar trends with how young people are using AI for support with their mental health. Families in the United States (US) are suing after teenagers were allegedly encouraged by chatbots to harm themselves, one case claims an AI chatbot helped compose a suicide note. Psychiatrists are warning of a rise in ‘chatbot psychosis,’ where users begin to develop paranoia or delusions after extended conversations with AI. These incidents highlight how quickly safeguards can fail when people turn to unregulated digital tools for support.
Dr. Lynne Green Chief Clinical Officer, Kooth
Lynne Green connect.kooth.com
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