Trust in AI-Therapists

What is it about?

AI tools like voicebots could help with the shortage of mental health services, but the big question is: will people trust them like they trust human therapists? This study looked at whether people would feel comfortable sharing personal information with a voicebot therapist and how safe they felt about their privacy. It also checked if explaining how the AI works (called explainable AI or XAI) would make people trust it more. The study had 564 people watch a therapy session with either a human or a voicebot and asked if they would trust the therapist and use it in the future. The results showed that people trusted the voicebot about the same as they trusted the human therapist. But when the voicebot was more open about how it worked, people trusted it more, especially with their privacy.

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Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

As AI technologies begin to take on roles traditionally filled by humans, it raises important questions about how users view these systems and whether they interact with them differently than they do with humans. Understanding the dynamics of trust between clients and AI tools is crucial because trust plays a key role in both the acceptance of AI technologies and the effectiveness of therapeutic outcomes.