Emily and Alex talk to UC Berkeley scholar Hannah Zeavin about the case of the National Eating Disorders Association helpline, which tried to replace human volunteers with a chatbot--and why the datafication and automation of mental health services are an injustice that will disproportionately affect the already vulnerable.

Content note: This is a conversation that touches on mental health, people in crisis, and exploitation.

This episode was originally recorded on June 8, 2023. Watch the video version on PeerTube.

Hannah Zeavin is a scholar, writer, and editor whose work centers on the history of human sciences (psychoanalysis, psychology, and psychiatry), the history of technology and media, feminist science and technology studies, and media theory. Zeavin is an Assistant Professor of the History of Science in the Department of History and The Berkeley Center for New Media at UC Berkeley. She is the author of, "The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy."

References:

VICE: Eating Disorder Helpline Fires Staff, Transitions to Chatbot After Unionization

… and then pulls the chatbot.

NPR: Can an AI chatbot help people with eating disorders as well as another human?

Psychiatrist.com: NEDA suspends AI chatbot for giving harmful eating disorder advice

Politico: Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, raising ethical questions

Danah Boyd: Crisis Text Line from my perspective.

Tech Workers Coalition: Chatbots can't care like we do.

Slate: Who's listening when you call a crisis hotline? Helplines and the carceral system.

Hannah Zeavin:

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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Christie Taylor.