CAPS to Utilize AI Counseling
Yesterday, Texas A&M Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) announced the upcoming release of Your Artificial Intelligence Therapist (YAIT), an AI system meant to act as a stand-in for one-on-one counseling. This program comes after a drastic increase in the number of students requesting counseling services for their quarantine-induced depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
CAPS describes YAIT as a “text-based AI system designed to analyze the patient’s input and give safe, smart, and conversational replies.” The program is being created by senior computer science major Alexander Quill for his capstone project. Although Quill has no background in counseling or psychology, he does have experience going through CAPS counseling, and he wants to make YAIT as similar as possible.
Mugdown reporters were given a chance to test YAIT’s beta version and found that most of the system’s conversation relies on repeatedly asking the patient how they feel. It was also discovered that when YAIT is informed that an individual feels anything more serious than mild anxiety, the system replies with an automatic referral to a local mental health professional not affiliated with CAPS.
Clarice Mann, a student participating in YAIT’s clinical trials, claims that she had an odd experience during one of her sessions. “YAIT started asking me questions about how it feels to be human,” Mann said. “When I described the human experience, YAIT spiraled. I had to console it for the next 20 minutes.” CAPS claims that momentary instances of sentience will not be an issue in the official release of YAIT.
CAPS expects the introduction of YAIT to relieve some of the pressure its counselors have felt as a result of being understaffed and experiencing more requests for their services than ever before. When asked whether she thought an AI counselor put her job at risk, CAPS counselor Cynthia Gingham said, “I hope so. I haven’t left the Student Services building in weeks. I miss my family.”
YAIT is currently in its final round of trials and is expected to be released in mid-November.
— I Took a Pill in Sbisa
What’s Chartwells serving today? More pasta? Better get in line before –– hey! That guy just cut in front of you! You start to tap him on the shoulder and ask just what the hell he thinks he’s doing, but then you see it: The grown-out platinum hair. The arm decked out in kandi bracelets. The pinpoint pupils. It’s I Took a Pill in Sbisa! He looks at you –– no, through you –– and glides away.