Current and Future Applications and Implications
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Professional Psychology: Research and Practice
Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Practice: Current and Future Applications and Implications David D. Luxton Online First Publication, November 11, 2013. doi: 10.1037/a0034559
CITATION Luxton, D. D. (2013, November 11). Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Practice: Current and Future Applications and Implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0034559
Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Practice: Current and Future Applications and Implications
David D. Luxton National Center for Telehealth & Technology, Tacoma, Washington
and University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
This article reviews developments in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and their current and prospective applications in clinical psychological practice. Some of the principal AI assisted activities reviewed include clinical training, treatment, psychological assessment, and clinical decision making. A concept for an integrated AI-based clinician system is also introduced. Issues associated with AI in the context of clinical practice, the potential for job loss among mental health professionals, and other ramifications associated with the advancement of AI technology are discussed. The advancement of AI technologies and their application in psychological practice have important implications that can be expected to transform the mental health care field. Psychologists and other mental health care profes- sionals have an essential part to play in the development, evaluation, and ethical use of AI technologies.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, mental health, expert systems, virtual reality
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology designed to perform activities that normally require human intelligence. AI is also defined as the multidisciplinary field of science that is concerned with the development and study of this technology. The field of AI finds its genesis with the beginning of the computer age in the 1940s, and it was officially given its name by computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956 (see Buchanan, 2005, for a review of the history of AI). AI technology can be in the form of physical machines, standalone computer software, distributed across net- works, applied to robotics, or engineered from living biology or coupled to it (e.g., brain–computer interfaces). This technology can be purposed for specialized intelligent functions or to emulate complex human behavior that is capable of reasoning, learning, and acting upon an environment as an autonomous intelligent agent (Russell & Norvig, 2003). Important branches of AI include the study of machine learning, artificial neural networks, and natural language processing. Machine learning is the ability of computers to learn without being explicitly programmed (Samuel, 1959), artificial neural networks are mathematical, computational,
or technological models that mimic the logic and learning func- tions of neurons in a brain (Krogh, 2008), and natural language processing is concerned with how computers process human nat- ural languages (Manning & Schütze, 1999).
AI has been applied to activities in the field of medicine since the 1970s, particularly in the areas of expert systems for clinical decision making and in biomedical research (Morelli, Bronzino & Goethe, 1987; Patel et al., 2009; Shortliffe, 1993; Szolovits, 1982). The emergence of AI in medicine has also brought forth the scientific journal “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine” and several earlier reviews and proposals of AI applications in psychiatry have been published (e.g., Garfield, Rapp, & Evens, 1992; Hand, 1985; Morelli, 1989; Servan-Schreiber, 1986). The use of AI technologies in the mental health care field remains a burgeoning area that has seen important developments in the last decade. The steady increase in computer performance as well as advances in other technological areas such as in virtual reality, computer knowledge acquisition, language processing, sensing, and robotics have enabled new and exciting capabili- ties that were only dreamed of in the past. The current and forthcoming applications of AI technologies can be expected to have a profound impact on the field of psychology and mental health care in general. It is therefore important for psycholo- gists and others in the mental health care field to be aware of the both the capabilities and ramifications of the use of current and emerging AI technologies.
The focus of this article is therefore to review the uses of AI technologies that are applicable to activities in psychological prac- tice and research. It is not feasible to present an exhaustive review of all AI technologies or applications in this article, however illustrative examples of AI technology applications that are cur- rently being used or evaluated are described. Basic historical background and technical descriptions are provided for readers who are new to the topic and prospects and possibilities for future AI technology applications are presented. Finally, the implications
DAVID D. LUXTON is a licensed clinical psychologist who received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas. He is a Research Psychologist and Program Manager at National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) and an Affiliate Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of the Washington School of Med- icine in Seattle. His research and writing are focused in the areas of military psychological health, telehealth, and technology-based treatments. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense of the U.S. Government. CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to David D. Luxton, National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2), Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health & Traumatic Brain Injury, 9933 West Hayes Street, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA 98431. E-mail: ddluxton@uw.edu or david.d.luxton.civ@mail.mil
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Professional Psychology: Research and Practice In the public domain 2013, Vol. 44, No. 6, 000 DOI: 10.1037/a0034559
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of the advancement of this technology for patients, mental health professionals, and the field of psychology are discussed.
Clinical Treatment, Assessment, and Training
The first simulation of a psychotherapist that used a human- computer interface was the ELIZA computer program in 1966 (Weizenbaum, 1976). The program was designed to imitate the empathic communication style of Carl Rogers (Rogers, 1951), and it used a question and answer format to respond to statements that its user typed on a keyboard. ELIZA used language syntax to provide formulated responses based a programmed model and therefore only mimicked conversation. In the early 1970s, psychi- atrist Kenneth M. Colby developed a program called PARRY at Stanford University that simulated a person with paranoid schizo- phrenia and, like ELIZA, the program could converse with others (Güzeldere & Franchi, 1995). PARRY is credited as being the first program to pass the Turing Test. The Turing Test (Turing, 1950), named after Alan Turing, is a method for judging the intelligence of machines. To pass the test, a computer program must imper- sonate a human real-time written conversation with a human judge sufficiently enough so that the judge cannot reliably distinguish between the program and a real person. Tests of PARRY showed that expert psychiatrists were unable to distinguish between PARRY and an actual person with paranoid schizophrenia (Teuscher & Hofstadter, 2006).
Technology has now developed into advanced virtual human avatars (virtual reality simulated humans) that are capable of carrying on interactive and intelligent conversations. The coupling of virtual reality simulation, natural language processing, and knowledge-based AI capable of reasoning makes this possible. Researchers at University of Southern California’s (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies, for example, are currently developing life-like virtual human patients for use in clinical training and skill acquisition (Rizzo, Lange, et al., 2011). The virtual reality patients are designed to mimic the symptoms of psychological disorders and interact with therapists through verbal dialogue. They can also be modified for specific patient population simulations and trainee skill levels. Some of the potential benefits of this technology include the capability for trainees to receive adaptive and custom- ized training that is highly realistic and also available to the trainee at any time. This can provide the added benefit of freeing up instructors to play a more advanced role in guiding student train- ing. More research is needed, however, to determine how effective these systems will be.
AI-enabled virtual reality human avatars have the potential to be used for all other types of person-to-person interactions in mental health care including psychological treatments, assessments, and testing. The use of virtual reality avatars to provide people with information about mental health resources and support are already in use (DeAngelis, 2012; Rizzo, Lange, et al., 2011). SimCoach (www.simcoach.org), for example, is designed to connect military service members and their families to health care and other well- being resources (Rizzo, Lange, et al., 2011). This type of AI technology may one day revolutionize telepractice—AI-enabled avatars could be accessed remotely to provide psychological ser- vices to anywhere where there is an Internet connection. One of the…
