The Role of AI in Mental Health Applications and Liability
(2023) In YSEC Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions 2023. p.275-310- Abstract
- The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire area of health care, including care provided to patients with mental health problems. Due to the stressful nature of the pandemic, the number of patients experiencing mental health problems, especially depression or anxiety, has increased. Even well-before the pandemic, Europe struggled with a lack of mental health care, which was especially caused by the long waiting times. The problem seems to have been solved by the plethora of mental health applications that are freely available on the market. Given the user’s accessibility to these applications, I decided to scrutinise the safety of using AI in these health apps, with a particular focus on chatbots. I examined whether existing European... (More)
- The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire area of health care, including care provided to patients with mental health problems. Due to the stressful nature of the pandemic, the number of patients experiencing mental health problems, especially depression or anxiety, has increased. Even well-before the pandemic, Europe struggled with a lack of mental health care, which was especially caused by the long waiting times. The problem seems to have been solved by the plethora of mental health applications that are freely available on the market. Given the user’s accessibility to these applications, I decided to scrutinise the safety of using AI in these health apps, with a particular focus on chatbots. I examined whether existing European legislation may protect users from possible harm to their health and require these mental health applications to be certified as medical devices.
After analysing the Product Liability Directive and the upcoming legislation focused on liability associated with AI, I must state that there is insufficient transparency and protection for users of these applications. Based on experience from the user’s perspective, I have identified the lack of (1) scheduling an appointment with a healthcare professional, (2) human oversight, and (3) transparency as regards the type of AI used. Due to the ‘black box problem’, it is likely that the user who was harmed will not be able to get compensation because of the difficulty of proving causality between the defect and the damage. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c09eee0f-57dd-413e-adfa-30db57673a2c
- author
- Müllerová, Petra LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-11-10
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- YSEC Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions 2023
- series title
- YSEC Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions
- volume
- 2023
- pages
- 35 pages
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:86000504200
- ISSN
- 2662-7132
- 2662-7124
- DOI
- 10.1007/16495_2023_60
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c09eee0f-57dd-413e-adfa-30db57673a2c
- date added to LUP
- 2024-03-18 11:42:28
- date last changed
- 2025-07-18 08:19:58
@inbook{c09eee0f-57dd-413e-adfa-30db57673a2c,
abstract = {{The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire area of health care, including care provided to patients with mental health problems. Due to the stressful nature of the pandemic, the number of patients experiencing mental health problems, especially depression or anxiety, has increased. Even well-before the pandemic, Europe struggled with a lack of mental health care, which was especially caused by the long waiting times. The problem seems to have been solved by the plethora of mental health applications that are freely available on the market. Given the user’s accessibility to these applications, I decided to scrutinise the safety of using AI in these health apps, with a particular focus on chatbots. I examined whether existing European legislation may protect users from possible harm to their health and require these mental health applications to be certified as medical devices.<br/><br/>After analysing the Product Liability Directive and the upcoming legislation focused on liability associated with AI, I must state that there is insufficient transparency and protection for users of these applications. Based on experience from the user’s perspective, I have identified the lack of (1) scheduling an appointment with a healthcare professional, (2) human oversight, and (3) transparency as regards the type of AI used. Due to the ‘black box problem’, it is likely that the user who was harmed will not be able to get compensation because of the difficulty of proving causality between the defect and the damage.}},
author = {{Müllerová, Petra}},
booktitle = {{YSEC Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions 2023}},
issn = {{2662-7132}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
pages = {{275--310}},
series = {{YSEC Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions}},
title = {{The Role of AI in Mental Health Applications and Liability}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/16495_2023_60}},
doi = {{10.1007/16495_2023_60}},
volume = {{2023}},
year = {{2023}},
}