Mental Health and Artificial Intelligence(AI): Is there any relation?
Artificial intelligence has been hailed as the next great advancement in the technological world, with many in the field heralding it as the answer to all of humanity’s problems and wants.
However, recent studies suggest that this rapid integration of artificial intelligence into society might have severe negative consequences when it comes to mental health issues, including depression and anxiety disorders.
For example, several studies have indicated that there are certain aspects of depression that artificial intelligence may never be able to mimic due to their lack of human thought processes.
Emotional intelligence
As Artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into more aspects of our lives, it becomes increasingly important that we teach computers to recognize human emotions.
Emotional intelligence is simply defined as the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and express emotions is one of our most important skills as humans.
Computers can mimic many of these abilities using a combination of artificial intelligence algorithms designed by software engineers with natural language processing programs that can interpret language by learning from text sources like tweets or chat logs.
These algorithms can then use context clues to respond in ways that seem emotionally aware without understanding or experiencing emotion themselves.
When put in a simulated human form with cameras for eyes and a voice synthesizer rather than lips or vocal cords, machines learn quickly how to convince humans they have feelings just like ours.
Social media oversharing
You can not go two minutes on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform without seeing another person detailing his or her innermost thoughts.
It is not unusual for someone to post about a recent breakup or an argument with a parent within five minutes of that event.
The problem is that sharing too much personal information can be detrimental to mental health.
Research from Brigham Young University found that oversharing on social media actually has similar effects as self-harm and negative body image issues.
If you are going through something difficult in your life, consider posting about it rather than using it as a method for instant gratification via likes and shares.
Stigma of counseling
In spite of mental health being an essential part of human life, it is often overlooked by society.
Many people are hesitant to seek professional counseling for fear of being judged or stigmatized by others.
This creates a vicious cycle in which people continue to suffer silently instead of seeking help.
The emotional distress associated with poor mental health affects all areas of life work, relationships, recreational activities leading to a vicious cycle where pain and suffering triggers additional stress and poor emotional well-being.
To break free from such a cycle, individuals must recognize that addressing their mental health is crucial if they wish to be productive members of society and artificial intelligence can help us do just that.
What Artificial Intelligence (AI) really means?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is both a broad term for machines that perform functions normally associated with human intelligence, like learning, as well as narrower terms for specific technologies focused on specific aspects of AI, like machine learning or natural language processing.
When people talk about AI in pop culture and everyday life, they are usually referring to general purpose or full AI.
The issue with full AI is that we don’t yet have technology capable of performing all human intellectual tasks (even though some people expect it within 30 years).
A more reasonable expectation and one that researchers are actively working towards is narrow-AI.
How we are using AI today?
AI has been around for a long time. In fact, one of the earliest forms the simple mathematical calculation algorithms used by ancient civilizations in China, India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome could be considered AI.
The field did not truly emerge as a popular area of study until recently.
Today’s advances are generally traced back to a series of technological innovations that took place in approximately 1950.
Benefits of AI in therapy
AI is a great tool to have at your disposal in therapy. If a person has something they want to talk about but are hesitant to bring up, AI could help with that.
AI could also be a good complement for therapists who may want extra insights into their client’s well-being.
Since artificial intelligence doesn’t offer judgment or opinions, it could be helpful for therapists who are afraid of putting their client’s off with too much probing.
An advantage of AI is that it can reflect feelings back on a person and let them know how someone perceives them.
This can help people learn more about themselves by realizing how others see them, giving you an idea of if you really have certain qualities or not if you think you do.
The future of AI and mental health
The discussion surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) is always fascinating, mainly because we have so much trouble defining what exactly it is.
With every passing day, AI becomes a part of our lives more intimately and more secretly.
From learning to interact with people better to helping us find partners based on our interests, it is not hard to see how AI has already made an impact on our mental health for better or worse.
But these effects are not set in stone, in fact, they can only get stronger as technology improves.
At some point soon, there will be an undeniable impact from Artificial Intelligence(AI) on our mental health both through what we consume and how we interact with technology itself.