AI mental healthcare is here. Can it help people — or cause more problems?
Talkspace Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadl describes the company's new AI app, which was trained on data from therapy sessions.
Talkspace, a virtual therapy company founded in 2012, has expanded its services to include AI-powered mental health support with the launch of Tee, an app developed with a large language model (LLM). Tee was created by clinicians and trained using anonymous Talkspace data, making it a safer and clinically grounded alternative to other chatbots.
Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadl, Talkspace's Chief Medical Officer, explained that Tee can identify extreme distress among users and escalate cases to human caregivers when necessary. Unlike other AI models, Tee's training on clinical data allows it to recognize risks and provide appropriate interventions. Talkspace users consented to their conversations being used to train Tee, as the company has a long-standing history of research with academic partners and has made clear that any data used is de-identified and encrypted.
Tee has the potential to address mental health stigma, particularly among minority communities, by providing a preventative and culturally sensitive approach to mental healthcare.
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