Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots in Psychiatry

The utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in psychiatry has risen over the past several years to meet the growing need for improved access to mental health solutions. Additionally, shortages of mental health providers during the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to exacerbate the burden of mental illness worldwide. AI applications already in existence include those enabled to assist with psychiatric diagnoses, symptom tracking, disease course prediction, and psychoeducation. Modalities of AI mental health care delivery include availability through the internet, smartphone applications, and digital gaming. Here we review emerging AI-based interventions in the form of chat and therapy bots, specifically conversational applications that teach the user emotional coping mechanisms and provide support for people with communication difficulties, computer generated images of faces that form the basis of avatar therapy, and intelligent animal-like robots with new advances in digital psychiatry. We discuss the implications of incorporating AI chatbots into clinical practice and offer perspectives on how these AI-based interventions will further impact the field of psychiatry.