Framing Responsible Design of AI for Mental Well-Being: AI as Primary Care, Nutritional Supplement, or Yoga Instructor?

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Cooper, Ned, Guridi, Jose A., Hwang, Angel Hsing-Chi, Kolko, Beth, McGinty, Emma Elizabeth, Yang, Qian
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Cooper, Ned
Guridi, Jose A.
Hwang, Angel Hsing-Chi
Kolko, Beth
McGinty, Emma Elizabeth
Yang, Qian
author_facet Cooper, Ned
Guridi, Jose A.
Hwang, Angel Hsing-Chi
Kolko, Beth
McGinty, Emma Elizabeth
Yang, Qian
contents Millions of people now use non-clinical Large Language Model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT for mental well-being support. This paper investigates what it means to design such tools responsibly, and how to operationalize that responsibility in their design and evaluation. By interviewing experts and analyzing related regulations, we found that designing an LLM tool responsibly involves: (1) Articulating the specific benefits it guarantees and for whom. Does it guarantee specific, proven relief, like an over-the-counter drug, or offer minimal guarantees, like a nutritional supplement? (2) Specifying the LLM tool's "active ingredients" for improving well-being and whether it guarantees their effective delivery (like a primary care provider) or not (like a yoga instructor). These specifications outline an LLM tool's pertinent risks, appropriate evaluation metrics, and the respective responsibilities of LLM developers, tool designers, and users. These analogies - LLM tools as supplements, drugs, yoga instructors, and primary care providers - can scaffold further conversations about their responsible design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_02740
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Framing Responsible Design of AI for Mental Well-Being: AI as Primary Care, Nutritional Supplement, or Yoga Instructor?
Cooper, Ned
Guridi, Jose A.
Hwang, Angel Hsing-Chi
Kolko, Beth
McGinty, Emma Elizabeth
Yang, Qian
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Millions of people now use non-clinical Large Language Model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT for mental well-being support. This paper investigates what it means to design such tools responsibly, and how to operationalize that responsibility in their design and evaluation. By interviewing experts and analyzing related regulations, we found that designing an LLM tool responsibly involves: (1) Articulating the specific benefits it guarantees and for whom. Does it guarantee specific, proven relief, like an over-the-counter drug, or offer minimal guarantees, like a nutritional supplement? (2) Specifying the LLM tool's "active ingredients" for improving well-being and whether it guarantees their effective delivery (like a primary care provider) or not (like a yoga instructor). These specifications outline an LLM tool's pertinent risks, appropriate evaluation metrics, and the respective responsibilities of LLM developers, tool designers, and users. These analogies - LLM tools as supplements, drugs, yoga instructors, and primary care providers - can scaffold further conversations about their responsible design.
title Framing Responsible Design of AI for Mental Well-Being: AI as Primary Care, Nutritional Supplement, or Yoga Instructor?
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.02740