Hemingway Sessions: Common Myths of AI for Mental Health with Derrick Hull

​AI for mental health has become one of the most polarizing topics in technology and healthcare, but many of the assumptions driving the debate, I want to argue, are wrong. We need better thinking on what AI means for human relationships, safety, where quality comes from, what counts as 'dark patterns' in AI, whether it matters how human-like AI is, and other important issues. I will try to identify some of the more pressing issues in the talk and offer alternative ways of thinking about the issues.

Derrick Hull, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and technologist specializing in AI for mental health. Previously, he held R&D roles at Talkspace, Noom, Mindbloom, and others, and with over $10M in NIMH funding, has studied natural language processing for psychotherapy, and helped develop novel therapies. Dr. Hull’s current interests emphasize real-world evidence, mechanisms of change, and holistic evaluation of AI-mediated interventions, with a focus on how AI can move beyond information delivery to facilitate meaningful psychological change.