AI chatbot granted permission to serve as psychiatrist, prescribe drugs

Utah recently gave an artificial intelligence chatbot the authority to serve as a psychiatrist and prescribe drugs, alarming many.

As reported by The Verge, the San Francisco-based startup Legion Health will launch a one-year trial for Utah residents in which chatbots can serve as their psychiatrists and prescribe medications. 

The trial will be relatively small in scope, with patients needing to opt in and only accepting individuals with relatively simple and stable cases. The purpose of the pilot program, according to Legion Health, is to offer "fast, simple refills" via its $19/month subscription service.

The Utah state government echoed this idea in the announcement of the program, writing, "By safely automating the renewal process for maintenance medications, we are allowing patients to get the care they need much more quickly and affordably." 

Yet, many medical professionals aren't on board just yet. Dr. Brent Kious, a University of Utah School of Medicine professor and psychiatrist, told The Verge, "Advantages of an AI-based refill system may be overstated … [it] will not increase access for those who are most in need of care."

Dr. Kious went on to tell The Verge that overreliance on artificial intelligence or automation could result in an "epidemic of over-treatment."

The new psychiatric chatbot will have several safeguards to protect patients. Beyond limiting which cases the chatbot can handle, it can only actually prescribe medications that a real human being has previously prescribed. Additionally, the chatbot will only interact with people who haven't been hospitalized for mental health reasons within the past year.

The news of the Legion Health AI chatbot comes as more attention is being directed toward the intersection of mental health and artificial intelligence. Recent research coming out of MIT found that ChatGPT may be making users "delusional," while allegations of "AI psychosis" are popping up across the country.

So no matter how the trial goes, it's imperative that protections and safeguards be implemented so that patients aren't negatively impacted by AI chatbots or their psychiatric advice.

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