Viewpoint: Global mental health services and the impact of artificial intelligence-powered large language models

Abstract

There is a largeand growing need formental health services worldwide, but there is amassive shortage ofmental health specialists to meet these needs-particularly in humanitarianemergencies, low-income countries,and other areas with limited resources.One strategy that has emerged to address treatment gaps is to rely on nonspecialists (eg, lay health workers, teachers, social workers, and peer mentors) to provide mental health services. Although this approach can be effective, current strategies demand substantial training and supervision.1 They also require highly standardized interventions, which may paradoxically limit more person-centered treatments.2 Concurrently, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly and changing how we detect and treat mental health disorders. Artificial intelligence applications in psychiatry are varied and include developing predictionmodels for disease detection and prognosis, creating algorithms that can help clinicians choose the right treatment plan, monitoring patient progress based on data from wearable devices, building chatbots that deliver more personalized and timely interventions,and usingAI techniques toanalyze therapy session transcripts to improve treatment fidelity and quality.