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1. Introduction
The purpose of this study is to describe the social implications of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in mobile applications for mental healthcare (MHapps). At this stage in the research, there is no universally agreed upon definition of AI (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and Google, 2019, p. 4), but the general definition of AI as “technology designed to perform activities that normally require human intelligence” (Luxton, 2014, p. 332) will be applied.
For decades, AI has been utilized within the field of mental healthcare. At present, AI has the potential to alleviate healthcare disparities, but there are many issues with its current implementations, including efficacy, privacy and security, as it is employed in both clinician- and customer-marketed MHapps. AI needs to be able to make ethical value decisions (Luxton, 2014, p. 336), but it is affected by algorithmic bias (Noble, 2018, p. 118; Reidsma, 2016; Whittaker et al., 2018, p. 11). To be effectively and ethically implemented in MHapps, AI must be examined through a socially conscious lens in each state of its development, from conception and design to deployment and regulation (Crawford and Calo, 2016, p. 313). In particular, AI programs called chatbots are sometimes included in MHapps. Chatbots, often referred to as “fully automated conversational agents” (Fitzpatrick et al., 2017; Kretzschmar et al., 2019; Ly et al., 2017), have text- or voice-based communication interfaces that simulate human conversation. MHapp chatbots are designed to employ therapeutic techniques to assist people coping with mental health issues, but these tools exhibit the same issues found in other MHapps, as well as AI in general.
AI and MHapps are part of a broader sociotechnical system in which society and technology influence each other. Social processes are supported by technology, and the social context of a technology influences how people use it. Ideally, societies should thoughtfully shape technological change (Kling, 2007, p. 205; MacKenzie; Wajcman, 1999, p. 6). This paper provides an overview of AI and MHapps within a social informatics perspective by discussing the development of mental health chatbots and other MHapps, reviewing their current uses and exploring concerns surrounding and the future potential for these tools.
2. Methods
A scoping literature review...