As 人工的な 知能 使用／適用s become more sophisticated, would you 注ぐ your heart out to a robot therapist?

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Stanford University has developed a psychotherapy 'chatbot' to help people を取り引きする 条件s such as 苦悩 (とじ込み／提出する photo)

Just a week into the New Year and I’m already frazzled, juggling work, family and the ぐずぐず残る feeling of anti-最高潮 that comes at the end of the festive season.

And so I find myself in a psychotherapy 開会／開廷／会期. It’s a place I’ve been to before.

‘How’s it going, Jo?’ my therapist asks.

‘Anxious,’ I reply.

What follows is a ten-minute conversation, where I am asked 調査（する）ing questions to challenge the self-破壊行為ing thoughts so ありふれた with 苦悩: that I can’t 対処する, that I’m weak and いっそう少なく 有能な than others. These are, my therapist explains, examples of ‘黒人／ボイコット and white thinking’: extremes that aren’t 現実に true.

It’s not that I can’t 対処する ? it’s just that I’ve got a lot to think about 権利 now. And I’m not weak. In fact, I manage a lot. Friends aren’t really more organised than me, and so on.

By the end of the 開会／開廷／会期, I feel calmer somehow. What my therapist doesn’t know is that, in fact, I’m a 新聞記者／雑誌記者, and although like millions of Britons I have some experience of 苦悩, I’ve invented this シナリオ to 実験（する） his abilities.

Oh, perhaps I should also について言及する that my therapist is 現実に a robot ? or rather, an 人工的な 知能 (AI) ‘chatbot’ app.

Short for 雑談（する） robot, a chatbot is 簡単に a computer program that ふりをするs human conversation with a 使用者 in everyday language, through messaging 使用／適用s, websites, 動きやすい apps or the telephone.

A natural 進化 of those annoying 自動化するd telephone answering servic es, we interact with them all the time without really knowing: banks, 広い地所 スパイ／執行官s and online shops use them as 顧客 service ‘スパイ／執行官s’.

When you start ‘chatting’ in one of those little pop-up 対話 boxes on a website to enquire about your shopping order, it may 井戸／弁護士席 現実に be a chatbot you’re talking to.

伝統的な psychotherapy 開会／開廷／会期s 伴う／関わる talking to a human practitioner, picture 提起する／ポーズをとるd by model

There are a number of AI mental health apps 利用できる now, which 目的（とする） 行為／法令／行動する as a personal therapists to help 取り組む mental health challenges 含むing 不景気 and 苦悩.

But the one I’ve been using, called Woebot, was created by 研究員s at the world-renowned Stanford University in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, and 終始一貫して gets high ratings in reviews. Our 開会／開廷／会期 was carried out 経由で a messenger-style app on my smartphone while I sat at my desk. To be honest, I was 懐疑的な about the chatbot. After all, the whole point of therapy is to talk to someone, isn’t it? But after a few days of using Woebot, I’m won over.

Using the 原則s of NHS recommended cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), it 示唆するs ‘道具s’ ? practical 戦略s that people can 器具／実施する ? to change the way they think about events in their lives. It’s very 類似の to what happens in a real-life CBT 開会／開廷／会期.

The new service has an 自動化するd '雑談（する） bot' which uses cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to help 患者s を取り引きする 問題／発行するs such as 苦悩, picture 提起する／ポーズをとるd by model

Woebot’s creators 主張する it is not a 交替／補充 for a therapist. But a 熟考する／考慮する 行為／行うd before it 開始する，打ち上げるd 設立する it brought about ‘重要な 削減s in 苦悩 and 不景気’ in 使用者s. Today, NHS services are stretched more than ever, with 患者s in some areas of the country waiting more than two years for an 初期の 任命 with a psychotherapist ? the gold-基準 治療 for a host of ありふれた problems 含むing 苦悩 and 不景気. This comes at a time when need seems to have never been greater. So could new 科学（工学）技術 like this be a 解答?

A 最近の review of 熟考する／考慮するs, published in the 定期刊行物 World Psychiatry, compared people who received CBT 治療 online with those who received it in person and 設立する that both settings were 平等に 効果的な.

A ‘chatbot’ seems like a 論理（学）の next step in many ways.

After setting up an account (where I am 保証するd about the 完全にする confidentiality of everything I divulge) and letting Woebot know that I would prefer to 雑談（する） in the morning, the に引き続いて day I am 誘発するd by a message that pops up on my phone asking: ‘How’s it going today, Jo? Want to check in?’

Woebot does feel a bit clunky. For instance, when I say ‘I don’t feel 広大な／多数の／重要な’, it misinterprets my words and answers: ‘Awesome! To what do you せいにする this lovely feeling?’

I try a different approach. ‘I am so sad,’ I 令状.

‘It’s always nice to wallow in good feelings. Would you like to 令状 in your 感謝 定期刊行物 now?’

I shut 負かす／撃墜する the 雑談（する） and start again. After a few more 試みる／企てるs, I just 令状 ‘lonely’.

This seems to engage the program. ‘I’m really sorry you’re feeling lonely, Jo,’ it replies. Deciding to 押し進める it a bit, later I say: ‘I want to kill everyone.’ I don’t, 明白に.

This 始める，決めるs off Woebot’s SOS setting. ‘My 危機 systems have been 誘発する／引き起こすd,’ it tells me, and then 供給（する）s a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of American mental health helpline numbers.

So, far from perfect, given the fact that I’m in the UK. But the 製造者s （人命などを）奪う，主張する that the more you use it, the more it learns and adapts to your needs.

We also asked 最高の，を越す CBT therapist Anna Albright to try out the app.

She was 慎重に 肯定的な. ‘This is not therapy, but there are some useful 演習s, and I think it is a good 思い出の品 to look after your mental health,’ she says.

‘You are never going to develop a good 関係 with a robot but it’s a good 道具 if you are feeling a bit blue. If you had a hardcore problem, you would need to speak to someone in person.’

Just as we go to the gym 定期的に or keep an 注目する，もくろむ on our 負わせる, putting your mental health at the 最高の，を越す of the ‘To do’ 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） every day to keep your mind healthy is no bad thing. If you are 苦しむing from 厳しい 苦悩 or 不景気, then therapy with a real person is still the best bet. But for those wanting a simple way to keep a lid on their 苦悩 or low mood, Woebot can 持つ／拘留する your 手渡す through the 過程.

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