Professor Meng Presents on AI Chatbots in Health Communication at UW-Madison

Professor Jingbo Meng from Ohio State University presented research on AI chatbots for mental health support at UW-Madison’s spring colloquium. She examined whether AI companions can provide comparable outcomes to human mental health professionals. Her findings suggest that while AI chatbots can be helpful, they lack the immediate connection established by human care providers.

AI Chatbots for Health Support: Research Insights from Professor Meng

On April 10, 2024, Professor Jingbo Meng from Ohio State University’s School of Communication presented her research on AI chatbots in health communication at UW-Madison’s Life Sciences Communication spring colloquium. Her talk addressed a critical question: “Is it true that AI chatbots provide comparable health outcomes to mental health professionals?”

Professor Meng’s research examined various AI mental health applications, including Woebot (a rule-based chatbot informed by cognitive behavioral therapy) and Wysa (an anonymous mental health support tool). One key benefit she highlighted was users’ ability to seek help without fear of judgment or burdening friends and family.

“AI chatbots can be helpful. We see that participants feel supported when talking to chatbots, which leads to a reduction in stress and worry,” noted Professor Meng. However, she clarified an important distinction: “A well-performing chatbot can be equivalent to a support provider, but only in terms of a participant’s evaluation of them. With a human provider, if they show care about you, there is an immediate effect. But with AI chatbots, you don’t have that.”

Her research also addressed gaps in online support communities. In studying mental health forums on Reddit, Professor Meng found that many people seeking help receive no responses. This highlighted a potential role for AI: “Online support group members may need help themselves, and may not have the time or energy to help others. In this situation, is it appropriate to use AI chatbots to support them? AI chatbots seem to be promising, but not quite there yet.”

An innovative aspect of Professor Meng’s work explores how human volunteers in online support communities use AI tools like ChatGPT. Some use it as an information search tool, while others employ it as a writing assistant. Interestingly, messages generated by AI or through human-AI collaboration were perceived as more helpful and authentic compared to human-only messages.

“We found that age was negatively associated with willingness to use ChatGPT, but AI experience was a positive predictor,” Professor Meng explained. Her research suggests that in online support communities, “AI chatbots may help augment humans’ ability to communicate support.”

Original Source: UW-Madison LSC Twitter Thread