{
  "id": 8028992,
  "title": "AI tool nears psychiatrist-level accuracy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/ai-tool-nears-psychiatrist-level-accuracy",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-17T13:20:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-ai-tool-nears-psychiatrist-accuracy.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers at UTHealth Houston have developed an artificial intelligence system that can perform mental health evaluations at near- psychiatrist levels of accuracy, in collaboration with Yale University. The AI tool, which analyzes video recordings of patients' speech, tone of voice and behavior, is being tested for potential use in educational and clinical settings. The system, which combines pretrained neural networks with custom software, generates written explanations for its mental status assessments and aims to supplement rather than replace the work of psychiatrists.",
  "summary": "UTHealth Houston researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can perform a mental health evaluation at nearly the same level of accuracy as a team of psychiatrists. The results of their work, done in collaboration with Yale University and published in npj Mental Health Research, bring the team a step closer to deploying the model in educational and clinical settings.",
  "key_points": [
    "UTHealth Houston and Yale University developed AI system for mental health evaluations.",
    "AI analyzes patients' speech, tone, and behavior from video recordings.",
    "System generates written explanations and aims to supplement, not replace psychiatrists."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}