Artificial Empathy: AI based Mental Health
Aditya Naik, Jovi Thomas, Teja Sree Mandava, Himavanth Reddy Vemula
TL;DR
Global mental health demand necessitates scalable solutions; this study qualitatively evaluates 12 LLM-based mental health chatbots through surveys, interviews, scenario prompts, and expert review to assess empathy, tone, and crisis handling. Findings show AI chatbots provide immediate, nonjudgmental support and can function as a 'five minute therapist' but face privacy, empathy depth, memory, and crisis-sensitivity challenges, limiting their ability to replace human care. The work highlights design imperatives such as memory, trauma-informed language, privacy-preserving accessibility, and robust escalation to professionals to safely integrate AI into mental health support. Overall, AI chatbots can augment traditional care by extending access and immediacy, while underscoring ethical considerations and the need for safer, more relationally aware systems.
Abstract
Many people suffer from mental health problems but not everyone seeks professional help or has access to mental health care. AI chatbots have increasingly become a go-to for individuals who either have mental disorders or simply want someone to talk to. This paper presents a study on participants who have previously used chatbots and a scenario-based testing of large language model (LLM) chatbots. Our findings indicate that AI chatbots were primarily utilized as a "Five minute therapist" or as a non-judgmental companion. Participants appreciated the anonymity and lack of judgment from chatbots. However, there were concerns about privacy and the security of sensitive information. The scenario-based testing of LLM chatbots highlighted additional issues. Some chatbots were consistently reassuring, used emojis and names to add a personal touch, and were quick to suggest seeking professional help. However, there were limitations such as inconsistent tone, occasional inappropriate responses (e.g., casual or romantic), and a lack of crisis sensitivity, particularly in recognizing red flag language and escalating responses appropriately. These findings can inform both the technology and mental health care industries on how to better utilize AI chatbots to support individuals during challenging emotional periods.