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The Therapist in the Machine
The latest mental health care disruptors seek to sideline humans altogether. Enter: the AI therapy bot.
Heartfelt Services lets users choose between three different AI therapists: the bearded, bespectacled, and bemused Paul; the mythical-looking Serene; and the grinning, middle-aged Joy (she specializes in the most popular form of therapy, CBT, whose basis in aggressively logical problem-solving arguably makes it easier to automate than other modalities). In an email that a New York-based social worker shared with me, a representative promoted her wares this way: “We have seen our clinicians save 1–2 hours of note taking time daily as well as practices increase billing by up to $43,000 per physician per year by adhering to latest coding and charting guidelines.” In a similar vein, Eleos Scribe also records therapy sessions, breaking down their content into specific themes, such as “wife,” “accident,” or “car.” The tool purports to “reduce burnout” among behavioral health professionals. In a press release after the announcement, a Talkspace representative said the move would help ameliorate the “alarmingly limited number of behavioral health providers that accept Medicare.” When it comes to the choice between chat-based therapy, whether human or AI, and the real-life stuff, the decision is, for the most part, only available to those with disposable income.
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