What might these AI tools look like?

It might involve chatbots, like Ginger.io, BioBeats or Woebot. It might be meditation apps like Calm or Head space. It might be fitness apps like Peloton, Fitbit or ClassPass. It might be online counselling providers like Talkspace or BetterHelp. Or it might be corporate wellness platforms like Castlight Health and Virgin Pulse.

How has this year affected the adoption of mental-health resources?

These were all issues that companies were looking at before, but now everything has been accelerated, because the side effect of this global health crisis is a mental-health crisis.

Depression numbers were huge even before Covid-19, and now it’s hard to even calculate. I would say most of the global population has experienced some level of mental-health challenges over the past eight months.

AI in the workplace is changing so fast — where do you see it headed in the next year or two?

It’s going to be even more robust, more sophisticated, smarter and on a bigger scale, because more data is being accumulated all the time, and more people are going to have access. A lot of this stuff is here to stay and is going to be a permanent part of organisations.

Part of that is because employees themselves are demanding more of their employers: They want to be treated as human, and be supported mentally, physically and emotionally.

With vaccinations on the horizon, does that provide some hope for our collective mental-health challenges?

I’m hopeful, but we will still need to have a good safety net and support system in place, because a lot of people will be dealing with mental-health challenges long after vaccinations are rolled out. The message here is that we need to look at all the benefits technology can bring to this part of our lives. Humans plus machines, will provide the scale and custom support that everyone needs.

Reuters