No Priors AI AI’s Growing Role in Mental Health Support
Nov 24, 2025
Discover the intriguing world of AI as it becomes a global emotional support machine. Millions are relying on chatbots for help, raising questions about crisis detection and the risks of false alarms. Learn about the legal pressures pushing companies to overcorrect, potentially leading to harmful outcomes for users. Insightful statistics reveal the shortcomings of chatbots, especially in assisting vulnerable teens. The discussion highlights the fine line between safety and support, revealing deep societal needs for mental health resources.
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Chatbots As Global Emotional Support
- AI chatbots have become a global emotional support machine because millions pour stress and dark thoughts into simple chat windows.
- More than a million users weekly express suicidal intent, revealing unprecedented emotional scale.
Scale Turns Rare Signals Into Major Burden
- OpenAI reported ~1M weekly users expressing suicidal intent and 0.07% showing mania or psychosis, exposing scale.
- With ~800M weekly users, even small detection rates imply huge absolute numbers and system strain.
Caution Creates False Alarms
- Systems tuned to catch every crisis generate many false alarms because they err on the side of caution.
- That produces overcorrections where harmless queries trigger crisis responses.