In 2018 Serife Tekin, an associate professor at the State University of New York who specialises in the philosophy of psychiatry, was targeted by Facebook adverts for the “mental health ally” chatbot Woebot. “I just laughed,” she said. “I didn’t anticipate that it was going to explode during the pandemic.”
“The Ghost and the Machine: Will AI therapists ever master the mysteries of human consciousness? As stretched mental health services turn to tech solutions, Silicon Valley is cashing in – with sometimes alarming consequences,” New Statesman, by Jenny Kleeman, October 11, 2023: https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/big-tech/2023/10/artificial-intelligence-mental-health-therapists