Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Research: Prospects and Pitfalls

The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is producing many positive outcomes in health settings, including robots to support older people in aged care facilities (Corby & Jennings, 2022; Padhan et al., 2023), precision diagnosis and treatment recommendations, and rule-based expert systems to process or manage complex data sets (Davenport & Kalakota, 2019). For health-related researchers, AI can also positively support the speed and accuracy of collecting and effectively analyzing large volumes of information to achieve improved healthcare outcomes and more targeted interventions (Al Kuwaiti et al., 2023; Bohr & Memarzadeh, 2020). Despite its many benefits, some researchers, including mental health researchers, have expressed concerns about whether AI should be encouraged or even permitted to support or drive research. These concerns include issues around security, privacy, and ethical risks, leading to recommendations for careful navigation and a cautious approach by the research community (Abulibdeh et al., 2024; Bouhouita- Guermech et al., 2023). This column considers how AI can be used in health research, including the risks and how these risks can be addressed.