A new study shows that an AI assistant can conduct assessment conversations with patients with higher accuracy than the rating scales used in healthcare today. In the study, 303 participants were interviewed by the AI assistant Alba, who then suggested possible psychiatric diagnoses.
In addition to being interviewed by an AI assistant, the participants also had to fill out standardized rating scales for the nine most common psychiatric diagnoses. The results showed that the AI assistant's assessments were more consistent with the participants' actual diagnoses than the rating scales did.
The study included individuals with confirmed diagnoses for conditions such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, ADHD, autism, eating disorders, substance use disorder and bipolar disorder, as well as a control group. All participants had an online interview with the AI assistant, Alba, which asked 15-20 open questions about their mental health and then proposed diagnoses based on DSM-5 – the internationally-used manual for psychiatric diagnosis.
The AI assistant achieved higher accuracy in eight of the nine diagnoses, and could differentiate more clearly between diagnoses that often overlap. For example, the conventional rating scales often gave similar readings for depression and anxiety, whereas Alba's assessments could discern the conditions more clearly. The participants also described the user experience as positive – many perceived the AI assistant as empathic, relevant and supportive.
"An interview that can be done in a safe home environment before meeting a clinician has great value. The results point to a scalable, person-centred complement that can lighten the load for healthcare and provide a preliminary assessment, without replacing the psychologist or physician," says Professor of Psychology Sverker Sikström, leader of the research team behind the study at Lund University and founder of the company, Talk To Alba.
Analyses the entire diagnostic manual – not just individual conditions
According to Sverker Sikström, the study marks a clear step forward in research on digital assessment tools for mental health. Previous studies have often been confined to analysing individual diagnoses or lacked clear justifications based on diagnostic criteria, whereas Alba can propose and justify all the diagnoses included in the DSM manual.
Fact box: What is Talk To Alba?
Talk To Alba is an online-based AI tool for the assessment, treatment and administration of mental health for professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians) who work in the area. The tool includes AI-powered clinical interviews and CBT for patients, automatic diagnosis of mental health justified in accordance with DSM-5, informed AI dialogues about patients for clinics, and the transcribing and journal note-taking of patient meetings. Alba, which is used at clinics in Sweden and abroad, is owned by TalkToAlba AB .
