{"id":163940,"date":"2025-12-02T10:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/163940\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:32:16","slug":"first-generation-mental-health-apps-look-to-add-next-gen-ai-chatbots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/163940\/","title":{"rendered":"First-generation mental health apps look to add next-gen AI chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-bio\">O. Rose Broderick reports on the health policies and technologies that govern people with disabilities\u2019 lives. Before coming to STAT, she worked at WNYC\u2019s Radiolab and Scientific American, and her story debunking a bogus theory about transgender kids was nominated for a 2024 GLAAD Media Award. You can reach Rose on Signal at rosebroderick.11.<\/p>\n<p>Digital mental health companies raised <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2025\/10\/08\/digital-health-mergers-acquisitions-ai-private-equity\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">record-breaking capital<\/a> during the coronavirus pandemic, offering therapy and medication to people desperate for help during lockdown. Now, some of the largest providers in that space, including\u00a0 Talkspace and Lyra Health, face a new challenge: integrating generative AI chatbots into their clinical portfolios.<\/p>\n<p>The companies say the technology has become too popular and offers too many advantages for them to ignore. Demand for therapists and psychologists has outstripped the available\u00a0professionals in recent years, leaving people to fill the void with on-demand chatbots that are cheaper and available via a few clicks on a phone. OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT has already reached an eye-popping <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/10\/06\/sam-altman-says-chatgpt-has-hit-800m-weekly-active-users\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">800 million weekly users<\/a>, with many leaning on the device for emotional support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fast, it\u2019s private, and it\u2019s there at 3 a.m,\u201d said Mark Frank, CEO of virtual and in-person therapy services provider SonderMind, about the rising popularity of chatbots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 and get additional analysis of the technologies disrupting health care \u2014 by subscribing to STAT+.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O. Rose Broderick reports on the health policies and technologies that govern people with disabilities\u2019 lives. Before coming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[343,163,3239,521,85,46,522,15830],"class_list":{"0":"post-163940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-tech","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-stat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}