Artificial Intelligence and the Mental Health Crisis

Story by Cameron McCollum

I friend, artificial intelligence has been gradually integrating into modern social media. But will the integration of AI into online feeds aid social media’s connectiveness or will it create more damage to users’ mental health?

Dr. Meredith David, associate professor of marketing at Baylor University, along with marketing professor James Roberts, conducted research on the effects social media has on society’s well-being, as well as its effect on personal connections.

โ€œWith regard to artificial intelligence, and even just social media in general, a lot of it is fake, if you will,โ€ David said. โ€œWe cannot help but compare ourselves to those that we are interacting with, even if it is a robot created through artificial intelligence.โ€

Artificially generated images work by scanning millions of images associated with text written in a prompt. The algorithms spot the trends the images have with the prompt and combine them together to generate an image by fitting all the commonalities together.

โ€œComparing ourselves to these idealistic photos is going to be harmful for our well-being because we think, ‘Oh man, I do not look as perfect as you know, this robot image that I am communicating with that was generated through AI,’โ€ David said. โ€œSo, there is a negative impact there.โ€

However, artificial intelligence does not always bring risk to social media users’ mental health. Dr. Jay Yoo, associate professor of apparel merchandising, conducted research on body image, which is the subjective evaluation of how people feel about their bodies. 

Specifically, a part of Yooโ€™s research studied treatments to help cancer patient’s and survivor’s body images through different forms of therapy.

โ€œAI can certainly present the sort of illustrated image of much-enhanced periods of cancer survivors and cancer survivor patients because I can create what is the typical image of Japanese men and that may be ideal for the body image in that country,โ€ Yoo said. โ€œHowever, let’s create what is the ideal performing shape of breast cancer patients. They can certainly look beautiful, and they don’t have to be discouraged. They can maintain a positive self-image cycle, utilizing AI to create some happiness and rightness.โ€

Artificial intelligence has also been geared to identify mental illness and self-harm predictions on social media. For example, in 2017 Facebook created an AI program, the anti-suicide algorithm, to identify if users were going to potentially harm themselves.

โ€œMost importantly, we always need to be cognizant of how social media use is impacting people around us,โ€ David said.

AIโ€™s abilities are constantly advancing. AI technology has been understood, to an extent, since the mid-1900s. According to the University of Harvard, AI technology was first discovered by Alan Turing, who attempted to research the ability to create a technology capable of automatic mathematical computing. 

In recent years, its abilities have been advanced dramatically. In regard to social media, AI has become a tool to keep users engaged and attentive. 

โ€œSocial media platforms are intentionally designed to be addictive,โ€ David said. โ€œWe just cannot resist looking at our social media. We just cannot go, you know, half a day without checking it.โ€

Social media at its essence is for all people to access information in real time, to connect with others and to find unique communities. The advancement of AIโ€™s capabilities and computer-generated content is becoming more difficult to distinguish from reality, jeopardizing the essence of social media.

“The reason it was created in the first place was to help us have those opportunities to communicate and engage with others,โ€ David said. โ€œIt is important to reveal our authentic selves. You know, it is OK to show your authentic identity and to show your authentic self. You do not always have to adjust your photo and make yourself portray yourself in a perfect image. The reality is none of us are perfect.โ€

Even though social media is helping AI step into public light, there are still aspects most do not understand. Austin freshman Nora Mason said she has limited understanding of AI compared to her peers.

โ€œI feel like I am more scared of it, but that might be because I do not fully understand it,โ€ Mason said. โ€œIf it does not get to a point where it is harmful, at least right now, I do not think it is super harmful, but I do think it has the potential.โ€

Mason said cyberbullying could adopt AI images for harassment, hate, defamation and other negative effects.

โ€œIf it was a fake, somebody can use it to try to get at somebody else,โ€ Mason said. โ€œThat can affect mental health.โ€

The mass public use of AI programs is not a new reality for the world. With voice command assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and many other versions, these new aspects are affecting social media and mental health.

โ€œIf you use Instagram, you see the ideal [female] body, it is not only impacting woman, it is also information that can be harmful for men to be accessing,โ€ Yoo said. โ€œIt creates all those idealized by the image, like everywhere. I think sometimes the ideal body can dictate how we behave. I am concerned that they will move over to this self-image of the individual.โ€