Artificial Empathy: AI based Mental Health

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Naik, Aditya, Thomas, Jovi, Mandava, Teja Sree, Vemula, Himavanth Reddy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Naik, Aditya
Thomas, Jovi
Mandava, Teja Sree
Vemula, Himavanth Reddy
author_facet Naik, Aditya
Thomas, Jovi
Mandava, Teja Sree
Vemula, Himavanth Reddy
contents Many people suffer from mental health problems but not everyone seeks professional help or has access to mental health care. AI chatbots have increasingly become a go-to for individuals who either have mental disorders or simply want someone to talk to. This paper presents a study on participants who have previously used chatbots and a scenario-based testing of large language model (LLM) chatbots. Our findings indicate that AI chatbots were primarily utilized as a "Five minute therapist" or as a non-judgmental companion. Participants appreciated the anonymity and lack of judgment from chatbots. However, there were concerns about privacy and the security of sensitive information. The scenario-based testing of LLM chatbots highlighted additional issues. Some chatbots were consistently reassuring, used emojis and names to add a personal touch, and were quick to suggest seeking professional help. However, there were limitations such as inconsistent tone, occasional inappropriate responses (e.g., casual or romantic), and a lack of crisis sensitivity, particularly in recognizing red flag language and escalating responses appropriately. These findings can inform both the technology and mental health care industries on how to better utilize AI chatbots to support individuals during challenging emotional periods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_00081
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Artificial Empathy: AI based Mental Health
Naik, Aditya
Thomas, Jovi
Mandava, Teja Sree
Vemula, Himavanth Reddy
Other Quantitative Biology
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
Many people suffer from mental health problems but not everyone seeks professional help or has access to mental health care. AI chatbots have increasingly become a go-to for individuals who either have mental disorders or simply want someone to talk to. This paper presents a study on participants who have previously used chatbots and a scenario-based testing of large language model (LLM) chatbots. Our findings indicate that AI chatbots were primarily utilized as a "Five minute therapist" or as a non-judgmental companion. Participants appreciated the anonymity and lack of judgment from chatbots. However, there were concerns about privacy and the security of sensitive information. The scenario-based testing of LLM chatbots highlighted additional issues. Some chatbots were consistently reassuring, used emojis and names to add a personal touch, and were quick to suggest seeking professional help. However, there were limitations such as inconsistent tone, occasional inappropriate responses (e.g., casual or romantic), and a lack of crisis sensitivity, particularly in recognizing red flag language and escalating responses appropriately. These findings can inform both the technology and mental health care industries on how to better utilize AI chatbots to support individuals during challenging emotional periods.
title Artificial Empathy: AI based Mental Health
topic Other Quantitative Biology
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00081