AI Applications That Affect Us All
An interview with Georg W. Alpers, Chair of Biological and Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and Director of the Otto Selz Institute, where he heads the outpatient clinic.
Credit: Anna Logue
FORUM: What are the main applications of AI already being used in psychology?
Alpers: Many subfields of psychology are researching and applying AI. We’ve successfully used AI in our working group: 1. To automatically identify facial expressions, with the goal of developing a research method. 2. To predict psychological problems from longitudinal data, so as to identify risk factors and prevent mental illnesses. 3. Using machine learning, we were able to reliably predict therapy outcomes in our outpatient clinic based on patients’ basic data; that allows us to adapt interventions to their individual needs. 4. We are currently experimenting with the use of generative chat programs to provide easily accessible support alongside psychotherapy services.
FORUM: What are the biggest challenges?
Alpers: One huge challenge is keeping up with the rapid pace at which new methods are developed. AI applications aren’t even a regular part of our degree program yet, and so my team has to keep learning from other disciplines. But we do really enjoy it! We think it’s important to understand what exactly an AI does; just because it’s a powerful tool, doesn’t mean we can blindly trust its analysis, recommendations, and instructions. It’s a little ironic that we sometimes find the same “prejudices” in AI as in human intelligence. So you need to be careful not to fall into those kinds of traps. In the future, acceptance of these new technologies among the public will be a big topic for psychology.
FORUM: What will the future of psychology with AI look like?
Alpers: Psychology will remain a science of human beings. I see incredible potential for AI in research and many other areas, especially when it comes to large data sets and routine tasks. I did ask ChatGPT directly whether AI could one day put therapists out of a job. We quickly concurred that there are many possible ways that AI could supplement or support us in our work, for instance in diagnosing conditions, but that generative AI is no substitute for therapeutic conversation and interaction between human beings. I’m excited to see what the future of AI will hold.
Text: Linda Schädler, Jule Leger/