Mariana Ricci
Research Mentor(s): Sekhar Sripada
Mentor Department: Psychiatry/Philosophy
Authors: Chandra Sripada
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 19
Abstract
The recent rise of artificial intelligence coupled with the rising prevalence of mental health problems suggests opportunities for new approaches to clinical care, specifically the question of how AI can be used to further mental health. This project sought to answer that question by using AI and digital technology to capture patterns in patients’ mental health symptoms (recorded as a verbal diary) through a newly formed app. It seeks new knowledge, as the intersection of AI and mental health is a fairly new idea, while also expanding on various currently developed AI tools. Student researchers first formed their own summaries of the verbal diaries (essentially the task that the AI will do), then established rubrics in order to assess the quality of the app’s AI-generated summaries. Additionally, student researchers served as raters to evaluate the AI according to these rubrics, keeping in mind the student-made summaries as a quality benchmark. As a result of this research, the app will in fact collect data and find patterns validly, according to the patients’ verbal diaries. This project has many big-picture implications that could be the foundation for significant advances in the psychiatric world. This app can benefit countless people, including many psychiatric patients, people struggling with mental health, doctors, etc. It can benefit psychiatric patients and those struggling with mental health because by identifying patterns in the daily diaries, the clinician can make more informed treatment decisions. It also benefits doctors because it will provide accurate, clinically relevant information compiled in a concise and efficient manner. This project used generative AI in order to collect patterns and data on psychiatric patients’ verbal diaries which had the ability to further mental health as a whole.
