logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2024
40m 17s

The TED AI Show: AI therapy is here. Wha...

TED Tech
About this episode
We may think the complexities of the human mind can only be understood by other humans. Yet research on chatbots and psychology suggests non-human bots can actually help improve mental health. Bilawal talks with Dr. Alison Darcy, the founder of mental health app Woebot, and Brian Chandler, an app user, to learn what chatbots reveal about our inner lives and what they can (and can’t) do when it comes to emotional wellness. 

Check out the 99% Invisible episode we reference in the show here:
For transcripts for The TED AI Show, visit go.ted.com/TTAIS-transcripts 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
The best way to lower Earth’s temperature — fast | Daniel Zavala-Araiza
There's an invisible super-pollutant heating up the planet — but it's surprisingly easy to reduce, if we try. Revealing how methane contributes (way) more in the short term to global warming than carbon dioxide, chemical engineer Daniel Zavala-Araiza highlights the emerging techn ... Show More
13m 4s
Jul 4
Are we still human if robots help raise our babies? | Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (Kelly Corrigan takeover)
AI is transforming the way we work — could it also reshape what makes us human? In this quick and insightful talk, evolutionary anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy explores how the human brain was shaped by millions of years of shared childcare and mutually supportive communities, ... Show More
24m 43s
Jun 27
Can AI companions help heal loneliness? | Eugenia Kuyda
AI companions could either be the cure to our loneliness epidemic … or humanity’s final downfall, says Eugenia Kuyda, creator of Replika — an app that allows you to create AI friends. She explores the potential of this technology to either exacerbate isolation or encourage connec ... Show More
14m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
AI therapy is here. What does it mean for you? w/ Dr. Alison Darcy and Brian Chandler
We may think the complexities of the human mind can only be understood by other humans. Yet research on chatbots and psychology suggests non-human bots can actually help improve mental health. Bilawal talks with Dr. Alison Darcy, the founder of mental health app Woebot, and Brian ... Show More
40m 17s
Nov 2022
Good Bot, Bad Bot | Part I: Bot Therapy
For the next few weeks, the Endless Thread team will be sharing stories all about the rise of bots. How are these pieces of software influencing our daily lives in sneaky, surprising ways? First up, our co-hosts delve into the history of ELIZA, the world's first chatbot therapist ... Show More
32m 55s
Jul 2023
Bodies, brains and computers
We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of the sensory innovators and technological pioneers who are develo ... Show More
27m 36s
Nov 2016
Mind Reading
Whether it's gossiping over a drink, teaching our children, or politicians debating we use words to communicate with each other and share ideas. It’s what makes us human. But what if we can’t? Could it be possible to broadcast our thoughts directly from our brains without the nee ... Show More
26m 59s
Jun 2023
Can Artificial Intelligence teach itself?
Welcome to the exciting new field of generative artificial intelligence - or generative AI. We’re not talking about robots or spaceships: instead these are image generators and chatbots that are already revolutionising the way people write, research and interact in the virtual wo ... Show More
26m 28s
Oct 2020
In Machines We Trust: AI Reads Human Emotions. Should It?
AI can read your emotional response to advertising and your facial expressions in a job interview. But if it can already do all this, what happens next? In part two of a series on emotion AI, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore the implications of how it ... Show More
23m 53s
Oct 2022
In Machines We Trust: AI finds its voice
Synthetic voice technologies are increasingly passing as human. But today’s voice assistants are still a far cry from the hyper-intelligent thinking machines we’ve been musing about for decades. In this episode, we explore how machines learn to communicate—and what it means for t ... Show More
27m 20s
Apr 2024
130 - Laura Gwilliams: The Needles that Unraveled the Brain’s Language and What We Can Learn from Them
Anjie chats with Dr. Laura Gwilliams.  Laura is an assistant professor at Stanford University, jointly appointed between Stanford Psychology, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and Stanford Data Science. Her work is focused on understanding the neural representations and operations ... Show More
40m 52s
Aug 2023
Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH) with Nita Farahany
Machine poets. ChatGPT fails. Neurological surveillance. Brain implants that treat depression. Is it scary? Cool? Let’s firehose some questions at Duke Law professor, neuro and bioethicist, author and TED speaker Dr. Nita Farahany. She explains the history of AI, the dawn of chat ... Show More
1h 19m