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Can mental health chatbots help prevent suicides?
With deaths from suicide rising in Singapore, artificial intelligence chatbots could make a huge difference. But they have limitations.
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There were 476 suicides reported in Singapore in 2022, the highest since 2000.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Jared Ng and Sharmili Roy
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It’s 2am, and your mobile phone buzzes with a message asking if you’re okay.
This isn’t a late-night text from a concerned friend but a prompt from “CareBot”, a hypothetical artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot designed to monitor your mental health. CareBot has been tracking your behaviour. Akin to how other mental health apps like Calm might monitor your sleep patterns, it noticed you were up late.
