Published July 5, 2023 at 8:20 AM ET
A teenage girl holds a mobile phone as she sits for a portrait near her home in Illinois on Friday, March 24, 2023. Kids Helpphone says it’s turning to artificial intelligence to meet the “huge needs” as more and more young people reach out for mental health help and support.Canadian Press Agency/AP-Erin Hooley
Kids Help Phone says it is looking to artificial intelligence to meet a “huge need” as more young people seek help and support with regards to mental health.
“Young people are changing fast, and technology is changing fast,” said Michael Cole, senior vice president and chief information officer at KidsHelpPhone.
The helpline has partnered with Toronto-based Vector Institute, which advertises itself as a consultant to organizations, businesses and governments in developing and implementing “responsible” AI programs.
The planned AI will recognize the keywords and speech patterns of young people who call the Kids Help Phone, allowing busy counselors to focus on what they need and tailor their support accordingly.
But Kids Help Phone is keenly aware that the term “artificial intelligence” can make people wary because it conjures up images of computers and chatbots rather than the humans on the other end of the helpline. says there is.
The group’s president and CEO, Catherine Hay, said the AI program doesn’t work that way.
“It’s always human-to-human,” Hay said. “It doesn’t replace the human-to-human approach.”
Instead, the information collected by the AI will be made available to human counselors in working with young people on the other end of the phone call or text exchange, she said.
24/7 national support lines for children and adults have seen a significant increase in demand for their services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to figures provided by Kids Help Phone, about 1.9 million calls, text messages, live chats and website visits were received in 2019, but since 2020 that number has surged to more than 15 million.
Hay said the organization is already using AI technology to prioritize text.
For example, if someone uses a trigger word or phrase such as “desperate and want to die,” that conversation will be prioritized (to talk to a counselor). ,” she said.
Roxana Sultan, Vector’s chief data officer and vice president of health, said treating AI as a tool rather than a human replacement is an important part of using technology responsibly in healthcare. said.
“We make it clear to all our partners that the tools we develop are always intended to support clinicians. It is not a substitute for ,” Sultan said.
The Kids Help Phone AI tool will use “natural language processing” to identify “keywords or trigger words associated with specific types of problems,” she said.
“When young people use certain words in their communications that correlate or relate to specific issues or concerns, this model flags them and alerts our professional staff,” Sultan said.
For example, training an AI to recognize words that suggest a possible eating disorder could allow counselors to direct the conversation in that direction and offer specific resources and support.
AI can also be trained to identify new words and trends related to situations that cause distress and anxiety, such as pandemics, climate change, wildfires, and mass shootings.
“It is actually aimed at enhancing the services provided by our professional staff,” Sultan said. “[It]helps us to be more efficient and effective in how we manage issues that arise in the course of a conversation.”
The key, Sultan said, is to make sure AI tools are thoroughly tested by clinicians before they go on sale. Kids Help Phone and Vector plan to launch the new technology sometime in 2024.
After implementation, it is important to always evaluate the information available to the frontline staff who use it.
“You can’t really blindly follow what an algorithm tells you. So no matter how high quality your model is, no matter how well trained it is, it can’t replace your judgment and experience as a clinician.” It was never intended,” said the Sultan.
If the AI is generating something that seems “a little weird,” she said, it should be flagged and investigated.
Another concern people have about AI is the sensitivity of personal information, she said.
“It is very important to be clear that all data used to train the model is anonymized,” Sultan said.
“So there is no risk of knowing any information about someone’s name, which means all identifying elements are removed beforehand.”
Maureen Abbott, manager of access to quality mental health services at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, said the use of AI in mental health is increasing nationwide.
Current applications range from individual services to monitoring social trends to driving the growth of mental health apps, she said.
“AI picks up the rhythm of the human voice and uses it for speech recognition to help diagnose mania and depression,” Abbott said.
“It’s also being used on social media to identify suicidal tendencies, such as chatbots for machine-driven learning and scanning phrases and words.”
To keep up with the rapid adoption of AI in mental health in Canada, Abbott said standards governing the use of AI in mental health need to be developed and implemented.
“AI is already in our daily lives whether we see it or not,” Abbott said.
“So it stands to reason that something similar is going to happen with mental health, and it’s moving fast.”
This report by the Canadian Press Agency was first published on July 5, 2023.
The Canadian Press’ health coverage is supported through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
