AI helps refugees with mental health problems

23rd March 2016

X2AI

Joe Bush

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The World Health Organisation has estimated that as many as one in five of the one million refugees that have arrived in Lebanon from Syria in the last few years suffer from mental health disorders. However, due to the private nature of the Lebanese health service, most of these refugees do not have access to the required aid.

To assist refugees with their emotional problems, a Silicon Valley start-up has developed an artificially intelligent chatbot that is capable of dialogue with refugees via personalised text messages in Arabic. The chatbot, named Karim, interacts with the individual and uses natural language processing to analyse the person’s emotional state and returns with comments, questions and recommendations.

Some of the disorders experienced by refugees include depression and anxiety, with many having experienced the loss of loved ones, their homes and their livelihood. Despite this there is little or no provision for mental health services in the refugee camps.

As such the creator of Karim, X2AI, has teamed-up with a non-governmental organisation called Field Innovation Team (FIT), which delivers tech-enabled disaster relief, to assist with the chatbot’s roll-out.

Syrian refugee, Ahmed, 33, trialed Karim and commented: “I felt like I was talking to real person. A lot of Syrian refugees have trauma and maybe this can help them overcome that.”

In addition, due to the stigma associated with psychotherapy – where some people feel reluctant to seek help - it is thought that some people may feel more comfortable talking to a robot rather than a human.