Virtual Therapy? Navigating AI-Powered Interventions for Mental Health

Generative AI has the potential to expand access to mental health support and treatment. From apps to bots to “therapy” modes within larger systems, anyone with a smartphone in their palm now has access to countless tools that implicitly and/ or explicitly promise to improve mental health. Alongside this rapid technological expansion and innovation, however, accounts of serious negative outcomes associated with these AI innovations, including user suicide, are emerging. In addition, our nation’s youth may be particularly susceptible to the risks – known and unknown – of these AI-powered tools and systems.

In this seminar, three experts join Center Director Rebecca Brendel MD, JD in elucidating:

1. what we know (and don’t know) about the benefits and harms of AI-powered interventions for mental health,
2. core ethical concerns and guiding principles for the future, and
3. possible paths forward to enable innovation and access while also advancing benefit and safety.

Speakers: 

Marlynn Wei, MD, JD

Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Author

Marlynn Wei, MD, JD is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author whose writing on AI and mental health for Psychology Today has reached nearly 4 million readers. Her expertise on AI therapy, AI companions, and AI-mediated delusions has been featured on CBS Mornings, CNN, PBS, and The Huffington Post. She is a graduate of Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School and completed her psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean, where she served as chief resident and received the Anne Alonso Psychotherapy Award. Dr. Wei specializes in psychodynamic and experiential therapy for professionals in her New York City practice.

Andrew Clark, MD

Child, Adult and Forensic Psychiatrist

Andrew Clark, MD is a forensic, child, and adult psychiatrist with a private practice in Cambridge. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for 20 years, working as the Medical Director of the Children and the Law Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He subsequently joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine, where he served as Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry in addition to Medical Director of Outpatient Psychiatry. He has maintained an active treatment practice of child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry throughout his career, and also worked for sixteen years as the Director of Psychiatry Services at the Suffolk County House of Correction.

Ryan K. McBain, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine at HMS

Ryan K. McBain, PhD is a health economist whose work focuses on improving access to mental health and substance use services, both in the U.S. and internationally. He specializes in analyzing supply-side constraints and evaluating the effectiveness of digital technologies—including telehealth and generative AI—in expanding care. His has published over 100 articles in leading academic journals such as The Lancet, JAMA Psychiatry, and Health Affairs. He is also a regular contributor to the public discourse on technology and mental healthcare, with his research and commentaries featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times.

Moderator: 

Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD

Director of the Center for Bioethics at HMS

Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD is the Director of the Center for Bioethics, Frances Glessner Lee Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine in the Field of Legal Medicine and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She bases her clinical work in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where she is the director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, provides medical oversight for the hospital’s inpatient guardianship team, and practices clinical and forensic psychiatry. She is a past president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) from 2022 to 2023, of which she is a distinguished fellow. Dr. Brendel is also a past president and fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (2018-2019). She is currently co-opted consultant to the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Ethics Committee and in her final of a seven-year appointment to the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA), of which she presently serves as Chair.