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Technology use in healthcare has accelerated its digital transformation, addressing areas that were previously unimaginable. The most recent breakthrough is generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), which can create a disruptive impact on nearly all aspects of physical and mental healthcare.
Gen AI’s potential to democratise mental healthcare, reduce stigma, and provide personalised intervention promises transformation. Today, Gen Z and millennials are choosing organisations that prioritise mental well-being. Recognising the talent value in younger generations, organisations too are making meaningful strides in destigmatising mental health, creating awareness, and boldly bringing it to attention. Gen AI is set to augment all these efforts in the near future.
That said, the technology must be handled with care and caution. It hasn’t acquired human traits such as kindness, empathy, intuition, and ethical judgment. Thus, human considerations must take precedence to ensure the responsible implementation of Gen AI in mental healthcare.
Breaking Barriers
Mental healthcare often faces challenges of accessibility and stigma. Gen AI can improve accessibility by blurring geographical boundaries and delivering mental health services to remote areas. Seeking help can become simple yet remain private. A virtual Gen AI platform can encourage more individuals to seek assistance. For example, Serena, a virtual Gen AI-powered counselling chatbot, can deliver mental health services on demand. The chatbot is a pre-trained AI model that can be embedded in a product, service, or platform.
AI technologies and algorithms play a significant role in mental healthcare through personalisation. AI’s capacity to analyse large volumes of data enables mental health professionals to create customised treatment plans. Gen AI and language-based models can boost efficiency for mental health practitioners and expand the scope of research and development (R&D).
Gen AI-based solutions can be applied in domains such as mental health, autism, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and cognitive disabilities that depend on language models and interactions, enabling new forms of communications and creating a world of neurofuturism.
Emotionally Intelligent AI
Organisations understand the value of emotional intelligence to ensure employee well-being. Emotionally intelligent AI can transform workplace collaboration. AI assistants and chatbots will be key in helping employees leverage their strengths for better teamwork.
This will not diminish the value of human capacity to drive collaboration and empathy. Gen AI-based large language models (LLMs) are yet to develop complex cognitive and communication abilities. The future holds the possibility of LLMs being built with human-like capabilities. Emotionally intelligent Gen AI will be able to examine language patterns, contextual clues, and historical data.
The Road Ahead
Digital tools are fostering empathetic, productive, and interactive work environments. With a focus on Quality of Work Life (QoWL), a concept that goes beyond job satisfaction and ensures overall employee well-being, organisations are adopting mental health and mindfulness applications. Besides their ability to track physical health, advanced wearable devices, such as smart watches and fitness trackers, can assess psychological and behavioural patterns and provide real-time feedback. The newest wearable device, smart rings, are discreet, offer a blend of fashion and functionality, and most importantly, aid mental health by measuring stress levels.
Organisations must support their employees to access Gen AI-powered tools as they become widely available and more responsible. Many organisations provide Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and counselling services, guiding employees to access these resources confidentially and training managers to recognise and address mental health issues. Most of all, organizations must tune into the needs of employees and prioritise employee listening.
The future of Gen AI in mental healthcare is indeed promising. With its enhancive quality, Gen AI will provide an intuitive and personalised approach to improve the effectiveness of mental health assessments and treatment, resulting in more patient-centred care and support.
