The chatbot will see you now: how AI is being trained to spot mental health issues in any language

Calls to a clinic in Uganda are helping create a therapy algorithm that works in local languages, as specialists look to technology to address the global mental health crisis

When patients telephone Butabika hospital in Kampala, Uganda, seeking help with mental health problems, they are themselves assisting future patients by helping to create a therapy chatbot.

Calls to the clinic helpline are being used to train an AI algorithm that researchers hope will eventually power a chatbot offering therapy in local African languages.

One person in 10 in Africa struggles with mental health issues, but the continent has a severe shortage of mental health workers, and stigma is a huge barrier to care in many places. AI could help solve those problems wherever resources are scarce, experts believe.

Prof Joyce Nakatumba-Nabende is scientific head of the Makerere AI Lab at Makerere University. Her team is working with Butabika hospital and Mirembe hospital, in Dodoma in neighbouring Tanzania.