A mental health AI was tied to better medication adherence and fewer urgent care visits.

Mental health struggles can make physical illnesses and ongoing health conditions much harder to manage. To see if technology could help, researchers studied a purpose-built mental health artificial intelligence named Ash. They compared people who actively used the tool to people who did not. Everyone in the study had at least one long-term illness, such as chronic pain or high blood pressure. The researchers wanted to see if using the tool helped participants care for themselves better over the past 6 months. Active users were more likely to report better mental health and were more reliable with taking their medicine. They skipped or delayed fewer medical care activities. Active users also made fewer repeat visits to urgent care and missed work less often.

Why it matters

Active users were 27% more likely to report improved mental health and 15% more likely to adhere to medications. They also had half the rate of repeat urgent care visits. These results suggest that a smartphone-based AI could help people manage both mental and physical health together.

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