Enabling AI for Digital Mental Health

Speaker: Jim Warren

Affiliation: The University of Auckland

Time: Monday 17/07/2023 from 13:00 to 14:00

Venue: To be announced

Abstract: There are many ways in which IT can support mental health. Such computer-based tools often cross the threshold into Artificial Intelligence (AI), and can also be seen as part of ‘consumer-health informatics’ where IT acts to empower individuals in their own care. This talk will present a range of mental health applications including patient-operated screening tools and chatbots that teach self-management skills. A key engineering question is how tightly to script app dialog, and where deep-learning based methods can safely be allowed to make decisions. Classification of user input, as compared to end-to-end response generation, is particularly promising. The presenter provides examples in the context of his research, mostly aimed at digital tools for mental health and resilience of teens.

Biography: Jim Warren is Chair in Health Informatics at the University of Auckland, holding a joint position in Computer Science and Population Health. He has over 20 years research experience in health IT, with a particular interest in systems to support both patients and providers in better management of long-term conditions. Prior to commencing with University of Auckland in 2005 he worked for the University of South Australia for 12 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and PhD in Information Systems from the University of Maryland. He is the recent past chair of Health Informatics New Zealand, the member organisation of IMIA for New Zealand. His research group, National Institute for Health Innovation has been closely involved in support and evaluation of New Zealand's national Health IT Plan.