Where Does AI Belong in Mental Health?
When should AI have a role in mental-health support, and where should we draw the line?
AI is already changing how people seek advice, companionship, and support. But when mental health enters the picture, things get a lot more complicated.
In commemoration of World Mental Health Day, join us for this Off-Script bringing together builders, researchers, and frontline practitioners working at the intersection of AI and mental health.
Hear how the same questions look from different sides of the space, then join the conversation yourself:
"Is imperfect AI support better than no support at all?"
"Could AI eventually do some parts of mental-health support better than humans?"
Come curious and open to different perspectives.
More About the Sharings
We’re bringing together people approaching AI and mental health from very different angles. Hear what they’re learning from where they sit.
Hear from the builders:
Nicholas Ng (CEO & Chief Product Designer, Ariveria) will share on “Building Ariveria: Why People Turn to AI.”
Nicholas will introduce Ariveria, their guided-reflection app where users capture moments throughout their day and reflect on them with AI to surface patterns and insights over time. Designed with input from mental-health professionals, Ariveria supports people in between sessions, rather than replacing professional care.
Drawing on real-world use, Nicholas will share why people turn to AI, what they're looking for, and what has surprised the team along the way. Hear how these insights have shaped the product, where they see AI helping, and where human care continues to matter.
Leanne Tan (Data Scientist, GovTech AI Practice) will share on “Behind VEILED-SH: How Do We Know When AI Responds Well to Distress?”
When someone says they're struggling, they don't always say it directly. Slang, coded language and indirect expressions can make it difficult for AI systems to recognise when someone may actually need support. On top of that, the "right" response can be extremely subjective and contextualised.
Leanne will share the thinking behind VEILED-SH, a Singapore-context benchmark developed with MOHT to evaluate how AI responds to indirect expressions of self-harm and suicidal distress. Hear what the team learnt from working with mental-health practitioners, why even experts don't always agree on what the “right” response looks like, and what that means for evaluating AI in such a sensitive space.
Then hear from the ground:
Grace Koh (Play/Trauma Therapist & Founder, Compassion Collectif)
What changes when a mental-health practitioner starts building with AI herself? Drawing on her experience across social work, trauma therapy, and more recently developing mental-health-adjacent applications with AI, Grace will share how her thinking has evolved from both sides.
Hear what she's seeing from the practitioner lens, where she thinks AI could genuinely support the work, and some of the tensions and responsibilities that become more apparent when you move from talking about AI to actually building with it.
Rachel Koh (Clinical Psychologist, KK Women's and Children's Hospital)
What does responsible AI look like when the people using it may be vulnerable, distressed, or seeking support? Drawing on her years as a clinical psychologist and her involvement in AI safety evaluation and product development, Rachel will share how she thinks about AI through the lenses of human behaviour, trust, and risk.
Hear what clinical practice can teach us about designing AI responsibly, where seemingly sensible product decisions can become more complicated in a mental-health context, and some of the considerations she believes builders should be thinking about as these systems become more widely used.
More About the Facilitator:
Grace Koh is a registered social worker, play and trauma therapist, and trainer with experience across a Family Service Centre, Child Protection Specialist Centre, and private practice. More recently, she has begun building mental-health-adjacent applications with AI. She also organises the AI in Mental Health Spaces Community of Practice, bringing together practitioners, researchers, engineers, builders, and educators to explore the role of AI in mental-health practice.
More About the Speakers:
Nicholas Ng is CEO and Chief Product Designer at Ariveria. Originally trained as a lawyer, his work spanned AI, law and liability before moving into startups and entrepreneurship. Raised by two psychologists and an avid journaler himself, Nicholas brings a personal perspective to his work at the intersection of mental health and technology. Alongside building Ariveria, he works with clinics and mental-health professionals to explore how emerging technologies might fit into care.
Leanne Tan is a Data Scientist with GovTech Singapore's AI Practice, where she works on Responsible AI, with a focus on AI safety and Evals. Her work includes developing tools and benchmarks to assess and safeguard LLMs and their applications, spanning contextual evaluations, LLM judges, and multilingual guardrails.
Rachel Koh is a Clinical Psychologist at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, with a background spanning clinical practice, organisational psychology, and responsible AI. Her work explores the intersection of human behaviour, trust, ethical risk, and technology, with a particular interest in translating insights from psychology into responsible AI and product strategy. She also works in product development, bringing a human-centred lens to how emerging technologies are designed and deployed.
More About the Series
Off‑Script is a conversation series by that brings together practitioners to explore ideas at the intersection of technology, design, and society. Through candid dialogue, live feedback, demos, and shared experiences, the series creates space for thoughtful exchange beyond slide decks.
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