Guest Co-author: Nomalanga Mahachi, HPSY, MCLIP
Head Editor: Nonhlanhla Hlazo, LLB, LLM, LLD
Given that more than half of the world’s population has no access to mental health care, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based mental health support may be a plausible systemic solution to the global mental health crisis. Such innovations include chatbots for anxiety management and AI-powered screening tools for depression.
Conversational AI has been used to provide therapeutic support that fills in significant gaps in the delivery of mental healthcare services. The benefits of AI extend to research, diagnosis, and therapy. While innovations in AI have transformed mental healthcare by offering fresh, useful solutions for many problems, it is impossible to overlook the ethical and legal implications of applying AI in human psychology.
AI has the potential to transform mental healthcare by
1. Increasing the precision of diagnoses.
2. Customising treatments.
3. Improving accessibility and affordability of mental health care.
AI operates more effectively thanks to its capacity to gather, store, and retrieve data.
The ethical implications of using AI in human psychology
Informed consent
Similar to any other form of healthcare, mental health patients or their legal guardians must agree to the use of AI and how it operates, such as how it uses and stores personal information. The patients or guardians should also understand the advantages and disadvantages of this technology.
Privacy and confidentiality
When using AI to provide therapy and care for mental health patients, there are concerns about privacy and confidentiality. These AI tools may share user data with developers for further training. This means AI tools do not always follow the ethical rules that require keeping patients’ information confidential. There are further concerns about unauthorized access, data breaches, and the risk of patient data being used for profit. Strict security measures are needed to address these issues.
Human empathy
While AI has its benefits, it lacks the emotional intelligence that is required in healthcare. AI is unable to empathise fully with human feelings and experiences.
AI further relies on human interaction to determine if treatment should continue. It is challenging for AI to adapt to emerging mental health issues or unusual fixations as it heavily relies on its training data. If the AI tool itself starts affecting a patient’s mental health, it is crucial for the healthcare provider to intervene.
Algorithmic bias
AI algorithms rely on large amounts of existing data and have the potential to reinforce biases found in the data that they are trained on. For example, a historical bias towards assuming that serial killers are predominantly white males can influence an AI tool’s diagnosis. Furthermore, certain cultures may stigmatize mental illness or prioritise holistic approaches to healing. An AI tool that is trained on this data may perpetuate this bias in its future diagnosis. AI bias also creates discrepancies in diagnosis and treatment recommendations, which can eventually impact marginalised groups.
Accountability
AI decision-making procedures can be very vague, making it challenging to understand the reasoning behind judgments and to determine who is responsible for mistakes or harm.
The legal implications of using AI in human psychology
- Regulatory compliance: Psychologists utilizing AI must abide by complex global and domestic laws and regulations, such as data protection laws (e.g., GDPR), healthcare regulations (e.g., HIPAA), and professional ethical guidelines (e.g., American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct).
- Liability and accountability: The use of AI in psychological assessment and treatment raises questions of civil and criminal liability and accountability in cases of errors or negative outcomes.
- Informed consent and autonomy: Ensuring that individuals understand the implications of AI-generated insights on their psychological well-being is essential in upholding their autonomy and human rights. Failure to acquire this consent from patients is not only an ethical issue but also grounds for liability.
By prioritizing transparency, privacy protection, fairness, and regulatory compliance, psychologists can take advantage of the benefits of AI while upholding the highest standards of ethical practice and legal responsibility.
Further Reading from My Simplified Law
Guarding your Personal Information against the Unseen Risks of AI Training
The Biased Gavel: The implications of introducing AI to South African judicial processes.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8968136/
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