AI therapy is booming — Seattle is helping set the guardrails
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A Seattle-based organization is developing some of the world's first safety rules for AI mental health tools, technology already used by millions with minimal oversight.
Why it matters: The use of AI in mental health care — from chatbots offering emotional support to diagnostic tools — is expanding faster than consensus on how to avoid creating risks for vulnerable users.
What's happening: PATH, a Seattle nonprofit, is helping South African regulators develop a formal framework to evaluate AI mental health tools for safety, effectiveness and bias before they reach the public.
- The hope is that the standards — which were launched in November at the G20 Social Summit in Johannesburg — will eventually be adopted by other African countries and serve as an international model.
How it works: South African regulators say they plan to apply the new guidelines to companies marketing AI platforms as mental health tools.
- Companies would need to show that their tools improve mental health outcomes while tracking, reporting and responding to harm — rather than avoiding oversight by branding products as "well-being" tools instead of medical ones, Bilal Mateen, chief AI officer at PATH, told Axios.
What they're saying: "You wouldn't give your child or loved one a vaccine or drug that hadn't been tested or evaluated for safety," said Mateen.
- "We're working to bring that same standard of rigorous evaluation to AI tools in mental health, because trust must be earned, not assumed."
Plus: PATH is also testing how large language models (LLMs) can safely support primary care in places where doctors are scarce, Kammerle Schneider, PATH's chief of Global Health Programs, told Axios.
- Early results show promise with the findings now under peer review, said Schneider.
Catch up quick: For nearly 50 years, PATH has worked to develop inexpensive, practical and scalable innovations for low- and middle-income countries, said Schneider.
- These include a compact chlorine generator that allows health facilities to produce disinfectant using salt, water and electricity, a low-cost uterine balloon that can stop postpartum hemorrhages and an inexpensive CPAP bottle that helps newborns breathe.
What we're watching: Washington state lawmakers are considering a slate of AI-related bills this session — including to regulate companion chatbots and set limits on AI in schools.
The bottom line: AI mental health tools are already here; the harder question is who sets the rules, and whether early efforts in South Africa can serve as a model.