The US National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) made a controversial decision to shut down the hotline for people with eating disorders and fired employees there. The organization announced that a chatbot will be brought here to replace humans.
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, there has been serious talk lately that such systems can start to replace humans in certain issues. Now is From the US National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) There has been a move that will create a debate on this issue.
NEDA has shut down its long-running telephone helpline. The organization will be the one coordinating this department and responding to calls, effective from 1 June. will lay people off. The controversial part of the job is that artificial intelligence will be used instead of employees.
Chatbot will now respond to people who seek help
NEDA, a non-profit organization, now believes that those who try to reach it for help, instead of real people, “Tessaa named to the chatbot He said he could reach it. The organization believes that artificial intelligence can help people with eating disorders will give better service He claimed.
Even if NEDA says so, there may be another reason behind the layoffs. Those fired from NEDA were informed of this change just four days after they decided to unionize. And that’s NEDA’s move, against the union He spawned rumors that he was in retaliation. The helpline workers complained about not having enough resources and staff.
NEDA is the United States’ largest nonprofit focused on eating disorders. The mission of the association is to offer support and resources to people affected by eating disorders. And for over 20 years, people have been able to call the toll-free NEDA helpline for guidance on these issues. However, this small helpline team of 6 paid staff and around 200 volunteers is no more.
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From June 1, the artificial intelligence chatbot Tessa will answer people’s questions. It was developed by a company called Cass. mental health chatbot. The model, which is said to be unable to carry out fluent conversations unlike the likes of ChatGPT, was first created in 2018 under the guidance of two behavioral health researchers.
The fact that people with eating disorders will talk to artificial intelligence raises great concerns
As you can imagine, this development raises some questions. Artificial intelligence models are receiving a lot of criticism for producing things like prejudice and disinformation. That’s why putting such a bot in front of people suffering from eating disorders also raises concerns.
Whether such a model can empathize, The big question mark is whether it can provide accurate information and whether it can replace talking to a real person. Helpline workers also have a chatbot. there is no substitute for human empathy and to the eating disorder community of this decision. to cause irreparable harm He says they believe.
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