AI and mental health: revolutionary reboot or the rise of the “digital asylum”?

The use of algorithmic technology in mental health initiatives is rapidly expanding. Some commentators claim AI can address the global 'mental health treatment gap’ by augmenting existing care and helping to overcome resource shortages and geographical constraints. Others warn of a rising 'digital asylum' which places distressed people under various forms of bio-surveillance and social control. This discussion will foreground the perspective of people with lived experience of distress, trauma, disability, mental health service use and survival who have advocated and agitated for more humane responses to people in distress. A panel will engage the audience to discuss what algorithmic systems and online platforms can – and maybe cannot – do to promote wellbeing in communities. This task is made more urgent by COVID-19, which has accelerated the digitization and virtualization of health and social services worldwide, as well as informal networks for mutual aid and community connection.