One possible harm, the spokesperson said, is a “missed opportunity” where someone with mental illness fails to get more effective treatment or delays treatment. For instance, Dr. Zeavin worries that racial and gender bias or privacy breaches could simply get translated into bots. “Therapy has enough problems on its own,” Dr. Zeavin said. “As the market gets saturated, the bar for evidence will get higher and higher and that’s how people will compete,” Dr. Torous said. “Woebot is a sandwich.

Source: New York Times June 01, 2021 06:00 UTC