AI and Mental Health: Clinical and Ethical Considerations

Increasingly considered as a possible means of supporting therapist training or extending between-session support to patients, AI is also being evaluated as a stand-alone mental health intervention. Although the field is advancing, demonstrating that AI can be deployed safely, effectively, and equitably poses substantial challenges. In this presentation, Shannon Wiltsey Stirman, PhD, will review how LLM–based tools are currently being applied across mental health care and address considerations for responsible development and evaluation by summarizing user experience research, rigorous safety testing, and frameworks for evaluation. Presenter: Shannon Wiltsey Stirman, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and served as co-lead of the Mental Health Innovation and Technology Hub. She is also a psychologist at the National Center for PTSD's Dissemination and Training Division and the co-author of Getting Unstuck from PTSD: Using Cognitive Processing Therapy to Guide Your Recovery.