On January 29, 2026, more than 30 international experts in artificial intelligence, mental health, ethics and public policy gathered in an online workshop organized by the Delft Digital Ethics Center (DDEC) at Delft University of Technology (Delft University of Technology). Delft University of Technology is the first WHO Collaborating Center on AI for health governance, including ethics.
Held as the official pre-summit event of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the workshop convened researchers, policymakers, clinicians, and advocates with support from the World Health Organization. “As AI increasingly interacts with people in moments of emotional vulnerability, WHO and its stakeholders need to ensure that these systems are designed and managed with safety, accountability and human well-being at their core,” said Dr. Alain Labrique, Director of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI at WHO.
At the heart of these challenges is the increasing use of generative AI tools for psychological support, particularly by young people, that were not designed or tested for mental health, and the potential serious risks this poses. “We are at a critical juncture,” said Sameer Pujari, WHO’s head of AI. “The pace of AI adoption in people’s daily lives is far outpacing the investment in understanding its impact on mental health. Closing that gap will require coordinated action and dedicated resources from both the public and private sectors.”
Dr Kenneth Carswell, WHO’s Directorate of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, highlighted the importance of cross-sector collaboration, adding: “Maximizing the benefits while minimizing the risks of generative AI to mental health requires bringing together the voices of those most affected, clinical and research expertise, governance and regulatory frameworks, and data to inform understanding. WHO is committed to ensuring the well-being of users remains at the center as these tools evolve.”
Main recommendations
The workshop distilled these discussions into three key recommendations.
- beginning, The use of generative AI should be recognized as a public mental health concernappropriate responses will be made across governments, health systems, and industry to address all generative AI solutions, not just those targeting mental health.
- Number 2, Mental health should be integrated into impact assessment and monitoring AI solutions can be leveraged to better understand their impact on determinants of health, short-term clinical measurements, and long-term outcomes such as emotional dependence. One workshop participant emphasized that “independent investments are needed to test these effects.”
- Third, AI tools used to support mental health need to be co-designed with people with lived experience, including mental health professionals and young people. The tools are: It is based on the best available evidence and tailored to cultural, linguistic, and contextual factors. Workshop participants emphasized the importance of consumer empowerment, and Dr. Caroline Figueroa from Delft University of Technology stressed the urgent need for agreement on crisis inquiry frameworks and accountability systems.
Collaboration Center: A Strategic Pillar for Responsible AI
More broadly, the workshop explained how the WHO Collaborating Centers mechanism is a key pillar in realizing WHO’s vision for responsible AI in health. Through this mechanism, WHO brings together world-class academic expertise and convenes diverse international stakeholders to develop evidence-based recommendations that support its standard-setting role. “As a WHO Collaborating Center, we can increase our impact by collaborating with experts, subject matter experts and governments around the world,” said Dr Stephane Buisman, Managing Director of DDEC.
Looking to the future: building a global consortium
WHO is establishing a consortium of Collaborating Centers for AI, a network of key institutions across all six WHO regions, to support responsible AI implementation in member states. Preliminary meetings of potential members of the consortium were held at Delft University of Technology from March 17-19, 2026, and agreed on an initial collaboration mechanism to build the collaborative infrastructure needed to align institutions around common priorities and ensure that AI governance in health is based on evidence, ethics, and the needs of diverse populations around the world.
