Podcast - Digital Knowledge

The podcast episode discusses the idea of using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve mental health. It starts by introducing a film called "Her" that explores the relationship between a human and a technological device. The podcast host shares her own experiences with anxiety and depression, highlighting the importance of mental health support. The episode mentions a study in Pakistan where AI was used to detect mental health issues with 92% accuracy. Experts believe that AI tools can aid in early detection, evaluation, and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. However, there are differing opinions on whether AI can replace human therapists and doctors. The podcast also discusses the public's perception of using AI for therapy, with some expressing concerns about privacy and data sharing. Legal and financial aspects of implementing AI in mental health care are also mentioned. Overall, the episode explores the potential benefits and challenges of using AI to improve mental health in so Hello and welcome to a new episode of the podcast Mind Over Matter. Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce. When he's not working as a letter writer, his downtime is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He decides to purchase the new OS One, which is advertised as the world's first artificially It's not just an operating system, it's a consciousness, the ad states. Theodore quickly finds himself drawn in with Samantha, the voice behind his OS One. As they start spending time together, they grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Having fallen in love with his OS, Theodore finds himself dealing with feelings of both great joy and doubt. As an OS, Samantha has powerful intelligence that she uses to help Theodore in ways others haven't. But how does she help him deal with his inner conflict of being in love with an OS? This is the storyline for a film that was released in 2009 called Her. The film explores the relationship between a human being and a technological device. The idea behind this film is very thought-provoking. Technology is constantly evolving at a rapid pace and this begs the question, what will society look like in 2045? It may still sound far away, but the truth is that over the last two decades technology has advanced, so much so that it could be assumed it will advance even more over the next two decades. This is a topic that this podcast episode will be focusing on. How AI will influence society in 2045. The film mentioned in this introduction portrays a good example of how AI can be used to improve an individual's mental health. Could this be a common thing in 2045? This podcast aims to explore that exact question. As someone who has struggled with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression herself, I think it is important to introduce this topic by talking about my own experiences first. When I was 14 years old, I experienced my first ever panic attack, which then led to years of suffering from anxiety and bouts of depression. I remember feeling like I wasn't normal, or like there was something seriously wrong with me. I convinced myself that nobody else had ever felt the way that I did. I struggled doing the simplest of tasks. Daily things like getting out of bed in the morning, or even taking a shower for example. These things would sap away all of my energy for the day. The only thing that I could do religiously was sleep. My appetite had gone and I didn't feel like doing any of the usual hobbies that would normally make me feel good. The thing that scared me the most was that I was unable to explain it to the people around me. Everyone close to me could see that I wasn't myself at all, but when they asked me how they could help, I could not give them an answer. I didn't even know how to help myself, so how could I possibly expect someone else to help me, or even to understand why I was feeling the way that I did. My mum had scheduled some doctor's appointments to try and figure out what was going on with me, but I refused to go. I didn't feel well enough and I had no idea how to even explain how I felt. There were simply no words to be able to string together a complete sentence for me to explain it. Ten years later now, and thankfully I am in a completely different position. I still suffer from the same conditions now and again, however I am in control of it. When it happens, I know what to do and so do the people around me. However, it has taken me all these years to understand it. After blood tests and eventually a few therapy sessions, I have come to terms with it. However, I often wonder what would have happened to me if things hadn't changed. I was lucky enough to have people around me who cared for me and helped me get better eventually. However, I can imagine that not everyone is as fortunate. What happens to people who do not have someone to talk to about their feelings? I cannot imagine how lonely they must feel. Therefore, when I watched a film her and I started hearing more about what AI can possibly do, I couldn't help myself but wonder whether AI could be used to improve people's mental health. They could be diagnosed by AI instead of having to talk to someone face to face. And even if they did not have any bad diagnosis, perhaps it would help people suffer from loneliness since they would have someone to talk to whenever they felt the need to. Understandably, there were different opinions about this futuristic idea and it is important to listen to both sides, the good and the bad. On the positive side, there were many experts in the field that believe that this idea is realistic and could be positive for society. Recently, a study was conducted in Pakistan where researchers recorded the movement of the participants via a sensor. As a result of the data collected from this, they were able to detect mental health issues like anxiety with a 92% accuracy, solely based on how a person was performing certain activities. This shows us what has already been done and it proves that it can be positive. Diagnosing someone is of course only a first step, but certainly one in the right direction. Dr. Palmer, who was part of this research, said that AI sounds like a promising tool in the future of mental health, especially with electronics and smartphones being so popular with the current generation. If designed well, AI tools can be an aid in early detection, evaluation and treatment of psychiatric illnesses and may possibly help with prevention efforts as well. Thanks to this quote, we can see the benefits and we can understand why it certainly could work efficiently. People nowadays are already glued to their mobile devices. This means that a lot of teenagers are already familiar with technology and therefore learning to use this potential technological device that would help track or treat mental health issues should not be a problem for most people. Another researcher involved in this study, Gunath Anyum, PhD, even claims that it will be as convenient as wearing a smartwatch. This means that it is safe for us to assume that this type of mental health aid would be minimally invasive and most people would be receiving help without even noticing it. Now, this all sounds positive, but it is also a question whether it is truly necessary. According to Anyum, it is now more important than ever. Since COVID-19, mental health services has seen a serious incline in cases and clinics and hospitals say that their waiting list to receive any mental health diagnosis or treatment is way longer than acceptable. Recently, the UN even announced data that showed that nearly 1 billion suffer from a mental health illness. That is almost 1 in 7 people. This shows the severity of the issue and how many lives AI could possibly save. Even possibly better than humans can, since recent data from the Swiss Cognitive AI Network shows that AI can detect depression twice as accurately as us humans. This tells us that it is not only a relevant idea, but also reliable. Speaking again from my own experience, a device like this would have helped me recover and even discover my diagnosis a lot earlier than 10 years. I was too scared to talk to someone face-to-face, but I think talking to a device would have been easier for me personally. Obviously, not everyone is going to feel as positive about this idea. One of those people is Robin Farman-Fermayan. She has written a book called How can AI democratise healthcare? And in this book, she claims that AI will never replace doctors or therapists. She calls AI a tool that can detect mental health illness as well, however, the tool only looks out for what it is told to. In contrast, a therapy in real life would be looking at a lot more. She sees it as a supportive tool, but she is certain that not worried that therapists and doctors could lose their jobs over this invention because she believes a device generated by technology misses human empathy and a human touch that is necessary when dealing with mental health issues. However, instead of just having an expert's opinion, I wanted to know how the public felt about this idea. So, I went and asked some of my friends and family if they would ever consider getting a therapy session from a device. I explained that the device would be able to listen, respond and give advice about their problems. The results were quite interesting. Most of my family members who are above the age of 60 said they would prefer to talk to someone face-to-face. Assumably, this is because they are unfamiliar with technology and using such devices. And even though this is not the case for my friends that are of my age, they have a good understanding of such technology, they still found it rather risky. One of my friends even said, I know my phone is already listening to everything I do right now because I talk about some product to someone and immediately an ad for it pops up. I wouldn't want to be sharing my feelings and that just being shared to some big company. On the other hand, some of my friends of my age said that they wouldn't mind it. They said it would be easier than having to leave the house and go to an actual appointment. I think what this tells us is that the divide among this idea is clear. You either love it or you hate it. And I don't think there's much of an in-between. Having said earlier in this podcast that experts have said that the idea is realistic and could very well happen in 2045, I wonder what else needs to be researched. Speaking to my friend who was doubtful of data being shared, I imagine that there is a lot of legal aspects that come to play with this futuristic idea. I can imagine that there would be a lot of people who would also be concerned about what could happen if the data got into the wrong hands. On top of this, healthcare is expensive and I can imagine that the idea wouldn't be any different. Who should pay for this if it does happen? The government in an attempt to improve society's mental health? Or should we fund it ourselves since it is our own individual problem? When I ask my friends the same question, they all believe that it should be in the best interest of the government. Mental health cases are rising and something must be done about it. I think what we can establish from today as a takeaway message is that if AI is used in a correct and a safe manner, it could possibly save lives. Now I'm curious what you as a listener think. Please comment below this podcast how you feel about this futuristic idea. Or do you have your own idea about what society will look like in 2045? Thank you very much for listening. My name is Daisy Van Belzen and this was another episode of the series Mind Over Matter. Thank you.