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from the spend-your-whole-life-without-meeting-another-human dept.
I'm about to start a session with Woebot, billed as the first chatbot clinically shown to improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. And I'm skeptical. Chatbots do everything these days, from helping people manage bank accounts and practice language skills to keeping them company when they can't sleep. But can an AI really get into my head the way a therapist would?
Turns out Woebot, created by a Stanford University psychologist, is more about getting me into my own head -- and teaching me to better manage the chatter in there. Using brief daily conversations, mood tracking, curated videos and word games, the new bot relies on principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a short-term, goal-oriented treatment that aims to rewire the thoughts that negatively affect how we feel.
[...] A few brief exchanges in, and it's clear Woebot's been programmed to be approachable and playful, charming even. At times it's even easy to forget Woebot's a robot as it asks questions about my mood and energy level and cheerfully points me to a YouTube video on the power of positive self-talk.
I'm not alone in liking Woebot's tone. Participants in the Stanford study described Woebot as "a friend" and a "fun little dude."
Woebot, however, stresses early in our first chat that it's a robot that can't, and shouldn't, replace a human. It also tells users that if they're in crisis, they can type "SOS" at any time to get a list of resources, and includes a reminder about calling 911 (112 in Europe) if things get really bad.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Informative) by Lester on Thursday June 08 2017, @03:42PM (2 children)
Even if facebook can't see what you tell the bot and Woebot doesn't tells anything to facebook, facebook knows you have talked to Woebot.
Whenever a new drug for depression wants advertising, facebook will suggest you are a good target.
Whenever a new course about relax or yoga is looking for customers, facebook will say "here I have some potential targets for you".
Whenever someone comes out with a new herbal infusion against anxiety, facebook will point at you.
Whenever a politician reach the conclusion that depressed people or people with anxiety are sensible to certain messages, will ask facebook, and facebook will have a list of woebot users.
....
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday June 08 2017, @08:31PM (1 child)
Doesn't matter. It's not possible to speak with any mental health professional in the U.S and get privacy.
Most of the slave wagers in the medical industry don't even know what the fuck the Hippocratic Oath is, much less respect it. HIPPA is a fucking joke once implemented into a CRM when the slave wagers have access to it, and have not seriously taken the Hippocratic Oath.
Even if you find a psychologist who is old school and not computerized, there is no attorney client level privilege that keeps that information from the government. At will, the government can steal all of your records, exposing your deep thoughts, vulnerabilities, and mental health without you even knowing. When they are electronically held, the government just takes it period. Either that, or just one hack and ransom away where they email all the patients ransoming them lest all the personal information makes it out onto the Internet.
It's an information war, and information/power asymmetry is everywhere. The laws do not protect us either, they protect those that would violate our freedoms and medical privacy.
Anytime I visit the doctor, I assume that all information I tell him is going to the government, and is exposed to corporations that would want to market to me. They've very little options to stop it, as the doctors are now reliant on the services of people that operate outside of HIPPA.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Lester on Friday June 09 2017, @01:12PM
Good point,
But the worst part is not that government is able to invade your privacy, but the fact that facebook, a stupid company of marketing, is allowed to invade your privacy