Empowering service users, the public, and providers to determine the future of artificial intelligence in behavioral healthcare

Spurred by billions of dollars in public and private investments, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being rapidly developed and deployed to automate, supplement and even replace the role of skilled behavioral health providers. Most discussions of AI in behavioral healthcare have focused on the safety and efficacy of these technologies and have largely neglected more fundamental questions about who decides whether and how AI should be used in behavioral healthcare. We argue that, despite substantial public investments in AI and the significant impacts these technologies will have on the lives of behavioral health service users, the public and providers, the private sector—not these key stakeholders—has played an outsized role in shaping the future of AI in behavioral healthcare. We offer recommendations to democratize the development and deployment of AI technologies in behavioral healthcare by prioritizing the needs and interests of behavioral health service users, the public and providers.