reposted from Slingshot's website!
In January 2024, we set out to build a foundation model for psychology.
The mental health crisis sweeping across our communities isn’t going anywhere, and what we’re doing clearly isn’t enough. Therapists have one of the hardest jobs in the world, and there just aren't enough people or resources to help everyone in need.
And we all know in our hearts that everyone could use some help with their mental health.
What if everyone could get help?
We need a foundation model for psychology.
We’re not the first to have this idea. Scientists have been experimenting with using AI for mental health support since the
very first computer systems in the 1960s. (see ELIZA)
We believe technology is finally at a stage where it might be possible.
If our ambition is to be able to help everyone, we need to understand and learn from all approaches (e.g., CBT/DBT/ACT, gestalt, psychodynamic). We know that different things work for different people.
We don’t want to generalize one person’s philosophy as the “right” approach to mental health for everyone (like Carl Rogers was for ELIZA).
Previous attempts have often chosen one approach, like CBT, as the “cure-all” because that’s all that was possible before. Large Language Models (LLMs) can finally learn from data at scale and learn to respect the uniqueness of every individual person - understanding what works for you, within your value system and cultural norms.
A good therapist helps you recognize that you’re in control of your own life. They don’t pretend to have all the answers or make you reliant on them. This is different from contemporary AI assistants, which are explicitly designed to give you answers. An AI that helps you daily with coding isn’t well-placed to support your mental health.
With that in mind, a foundation model for psychology needs to respect your self-determination:
It should increase your sense of autonomy: the sense that you’re in control of your life.
It should increase your sense of competence: the confidence that you can do it.
It should increase your sense of relatedness: your connection with other people. It should not try to take their place.
And it’s not your assistant. It can’t be afraid to push back when appropriate and it should be able to hold you accountable.
We've had ~25k people try it out so far, and are excited to share it with the world soon.