OpenAI has released new estimates of the number of ChatGPT users who exhibit possible signs of mental health emergencies, including mania, psychosis or suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n
The company said that around 0.07% of ChatGPT users active in a given week exhibited such signs, adding that its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot recognizes and responds to these sensitive conversations.<\/p>\n
While OpenAI maintains these cases are “extremely rare,” critics said even a small percentage may amount to hundreds of thousands of people, as ChatGPT recently reached 800 million weekly active users, per boss Sam Altman.<\/p>\n
As scrutiny mounts, the company said it built a network of experts around the world to advise it.<\/p>\n
Those experts include more than 170 psychiatrists, psychologists, and primary care physicians who have practiced in 60 countries, the company said.<\/p>\n
They have devised a series of responses in ChatGPT to encourage users to seek help in the real world, according to OpenAI.<\/p>\n
But the glimpse at the company’s data raised eyebrows among some mental health professionals.<\/p>\n
“Even though 0.07% sounds like a small percentage, at a population level with hundreds of millions of users, that actually can be quite a few people,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, a professor who studies technology use among young adults at the University of California, San Francisco.<\/p>\n
“AI can broaden access to mental health support, and in some ways support mental health, but we have to be aware of the limitations,” Dr. Nagata added.<\/p>\n
The company also estimates 0.15% of ChatGPT users have conversations that include “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”<\/p>\n
OpenAI said recent updates to its chatbot are designed to “respond safely and empathetically to potential signs of delusion or mania” and note “indirect signals of potential self-harm or suicide risk.”<\/p>\n
ChatGPT has also been trained to reroute sensitive conversations “originating from other models to safer models” by opening in a new window.<\/p>\n
In response to questions by the BBC on criticism about the numbers of people potentially affected, OpenAI said that this small percentage of users amounts to a meaningful amount of people and noted they are taking changes seriously. <\/p>\n
The changes come as OpenAI faces mounting legal scrutiny over the way ChatGPT interacts with users.<\/p>\n