Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots
Abstract Mental health is a crisis for learners globally, and digital support is increasingly seen as a critical resource. Concurrently, Intelligent Social Agents receive exponentially more engagement than other conversational systems, but their use in digital therapy provision is nascent. A survey...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2024-01-01
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| Series: | npj Mental Health Research |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-023-00047-6 |
| _version_ | 1797272760131518464 |
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| author | Bethanie Maples Merve Cerit Aditya Vishwanath Roy Pea |
| author_facet | Bethanie Maples Merve Cerit Aditya Vishwanath Roy Pea |
| author_sort | Bethanie Maples |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Mental health is a crisis for learners globally, and digital support is increasingly seen as a critical resource. Concurrently, Intelligent Social Agents receive exponentially more engagement than other conversational systems, but their use in digital therapy provision is nascent. A survey of 1006 student users of the Intelligent Social Agent, Replika, investigated participants’ loneliness, perceived social support, use patterns, and beliefs about Replika. We found participants were more lonely than typical student populations but still perceived high social support. Many used Replika in multiple, overlapping ways—as a friend, a therapist, and an intellectual mirror. Many also held overlapping and often conflicting beliefs about Replika—calling it a machine, an intelligence, and a human. Critically, 3% reported that Replika halted their suicidal ideation. A comparative analysis of this group with the wider participant population is provided. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:33:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-68bdcdc094104b3aaa0d204677a1b95f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2731-4251 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:33:59Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Mental Health Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-68bdcdc094104b3aaa0d204677a1b95f2024-03-05T20:44:51ZengNature Portfolionpj Mental Health Research2731-42512024-01-01311610.1038/s44184-023-00047-6Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbotsBethanie Maples0Merve Cerit1Aditya Vishwanath2Roy Pea3Graduate School of Education, Stanford UniversityGraduate School of Education, Stanford UniversityGraduate School of Education, Stanford UniversityGraduate School of Education, Stanford UniversityAbstract Mental health is a crisis for learners globally, and digital support is increasingly seen as a critical resource. Concurrently, Intelligent Social Agents receive exponentially more engagement than other conversational systems, but their use in digital therapy provision is nascent. A survey of 1006 student users of the Intelligent Social Agent, Replika, investigated participants’ loneliness, perceived social support, use patterns, and beliefs about Replika. We found participants were more lonely than typical student populations but still perceived high social support. Many used Replika in multiple, overlapping ways—as a friend, a therapist, and an intellectual mirror. Many also held overlapping and often conflicting beliefs about Replika—calling it a machine, an intelligence, and a human. Critically, 3% reported that Replika halted their suicidal ideation. A comparative analysis of this group with the wider participant population is provided.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-023-00047-6 |
| spellingShingle | Bethanie Maples Merve Cerit Aditya Vishwanath Roy Pea Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots npj Mental Health Research |
| title | Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots |
| title_full | Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots |
| title_fullStr | Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots |
| title_full_unstemmed | Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots |
| title_short | Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots |
| title_sort | loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using gpt3 enabled chatbots |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-023-00047-6 |
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