Seek help for a mental health issue today and you may find yourself referred to an online app or talking to a robot therapist. Is this welcome democratisation of an expensive resource \u2013 or the \u2018Uberisation of therapy\u2019?<\/p>\n
She\u2019s sitting on a purple armchair, nodding slowly as she talks. \u201cWhen was the last time you felt really happy?\u201d Her voice is low and measured, with the gently broken glottal quality that one might expect of a computer simulation, her ethnicity undefined, her cardigan beige. Ellie, an artificial intelligence therapist created with funding from the US government agency responsible for the development of military technologies, is capable of reading 60 non-verbal cues a second. She wears a watch and a look of blank empathy. On the split screen, her patient repeats her question. \u201cHmm, when was the last time I felt really happy?\u201d He\u2019s a young white man who appears to find the interaction unremarkable, which I find remarkable. She detects his \u201clow gaze attention\u201d as he answers, and nods, and prods, and mirrors his facial expressions. And I realise I am nodding, too.<\/p>\n
The future of therapy arrived faster than planned. Over the past decade the appearance of mental health care has radically changed, evolving from soft conversations held in small rooms, to encompass teletherapy (at a distance), text-based therapy (through messaging apps), chatbots that perform cognitive behavioural therapy, online platforms that match you to a therapist and, soon, AI therapy with a \u201cnon-human\u201d therapist like Ellie. In 2020 the pandemic brought about a mental health crisis and these online services were pushed blinking into the light. As Covid gnawed its way through communities, record numbers of children and adults sought NHS help for problems such as anxiety and depression, and private online therapy platforms, such as BetterHelp<\/a>, saw a spike in users. The future was here, for around \u00a360 a week.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/04168935be947f34b6dd019dc43d0a43310c9226\/0_132_3960_2376\/master\/3960.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d1fea308e0485e41a6474b246ca1feae\" "\\"Is")
Seek help for a mental health issue today and you may find yourself referred to an online app or talking to a robot therapist. Is this welcome democratisation of an expensive resource \u2013 or the \u2018Uberisation of therapy\u2019?She\u2019s sitting on a purple armchair, nodding slowly as she talks. \u201cWhen was the last time you felt really happy?\u201d Her voice is low and measured, with the gently broken glottal quality that one might expect of a computer simulation, her ethnicity undefined, her cardigan beige. Ellie, an artificial intelligence therapist created with funding from the US government agency responsible for the development of military technologies, is capable of reading 60 non-verbal cues a second. She wears a watch and a look of blank empathy. On the split screen, her patient repeats her question. \u201cHmm, when was the last time I felt really happy?\u201d He\u2019s a young white man who appears to find the interaction unremarkable, which I find remarkable. She detects his \u201clow gaze attention\u201d as he answers, and nods, and prods, and mirrors his facial expressions. And I realise I am nodding, too.