研究用户在心理危机中用聊天AI求助的真实体验，发现AI可作临时桥梁。
Seeking Late Night Life Lines: Experiences of Conversational AI Use in Mental Health Crisis
- 通过53份自述调查，发现用户因缺乏专业支持或怕麻烦他人而求助AI。
- 16位专家访谈表明，人与人的情感连接是应对危机的关键正向行动。
- 建议设计AI为连接人类支持的桥梁，而非替代品。
在线上，人们常分享转向对话式AI（如ChatGPT、Claude、Copilot）寻求心理健康支持的经历，甚至以此替代治疗师。这些故事暗示了AI在提供可及心理支持方面的巨大潜力，但其在极端心理危机场景中的实际应用尚不明确。本研究探索了个体在心理危机中使用对话式AI的一手经验。基于53份生活经历自述调查，我们发现用户利用AI填补人际支持的空白——因无法获得专业帮助或担心给他人添负担而求助于AI。同时，对16位心理健康专家的访谈显示，人际连接是应对危机时不可或缺的积极行为。结合行为改变阶段模型，结果表明负责任的AI危机干预应提升用户采取积极行动的准备度，同时降低负面行为意图。本文讨论将对话式AI设计为通向人类连接的桥梁，而非终点的意义。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Online, people often recount their experiences turning to conversational AI agents (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot) for mental health support -- going so far as to replace their therapists. These anecdotes suggest that AI agents have great potential to offer accessible mental health support. However, it's unclear how to meet this potential in extreme mental health crisis use cases. In this work, we explore the first-person experience of turning to a conversational AI agent in a mental health crisis. From a testimonial survey (n = 53) of lived experiences, we find that people use AI agents to fill the in-between spaces of human support; they turn to AI due to lack of access to mental health professionals or fears of burdening others. At the same time, our interviews with mental health experts (n = 16) suggest that human-human connection is an essential positive action when managing a mental health crisis. Using the stages of change model, our results suggest that a responsible AI crisis intervention is one that increases the user's preparedness to take a positive action while de-escalating any intended negative action. We discuss the implications of designing conversational AI agents as bridges towards human-human connection rather than ends in themselves.
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