AI Research
UMaine researchers examine issues around using AI in family therapy – UMaine News
UMaine researchers examine issues around using AI in family therapy
A new paper from two University of Maine researchers explores the challenges and opportunities for scholars and practitioners when it comes to using AI to study and develop interventions for relationship and family therapy.
“Challenges and opportunities in using interpretable AI to develop relationship interventions” was published in Family Relations, the academic research journal of the National Council on Family Relations, as part of a special issue on AI in family life.
The use of AI in therapy is still in its infancy but has potential to provide families and couples with personalized support to strengthen bonds and overcome relationship problems, according to Daniel Puhlman, assistant professor of family studies in the UMaine College of Education and Human Development and the article’s lead author.
“Couples going through a separation, for example, where you have high emotions and high conflict, just being in the same space can be difficult, if not dangerous,” Puhlman said. “In a situation like that, AI’s ability to be interpretive and suggest therapeutic interventions or treatment measures could be a very powerful tool.”
Puhlman notes that as more people become familiar with them, AI technologies are already integrating into family life and other types of relationships. However, he and his co-author, assistant professor of computer science Chaofan Chen, note that AI itself is a broad term that encapsulates several different technological systems and processes where machines are programmed to mimic human cognition and perform tasks that require human intelligence.
“The specific sub-area of AI that we found most relevant to addressing family science problems is machine learning, which uses algorithms that allow computers to learn from datasets and make predictions or decisions based on that data,” Puhlman said.
Strategies that incorporate human expertise and feedback — known as the human-in-the-loop technique — are important for improving the accuracy of machine learning models, he adds.
“It’s especially important in fields like family and relationship science, health care and law, where human judgment is critical,” said Puhlman.
According to the researchers, most of the AI-based technologies currently used in therapeutic contexts offer support to individuals rather than to couples or families. The tools that are most widely used are largely educational and not used for actual treatment or interventions — therapists can use AI to summarize session notes, for example. Part of the challenge is that while AI is good at interpreting and reporting data when it has a strict structure in place, human behavior is complicated.
“Just think about why human beings do the things we do, say the things we say, think the things we think, or how we interact with the world around us. Then put two or more of these complex, messy, dynamic creatures together, and you can see the challenges for a system that relies on a strict structure,” Puhlman said.
Another challenge is that there are several different ways to practice therapy, and what works in one situation may not apply to another.
“You can train AI to use a therapeutic mode, but training it to know when it is appropriate to use and why to use it versus a different method gets quite complex,” Puhlman said.
The authors explore these challenges, as well as ethical concerns about AI and privacy; AI providing inaccurate information; and AI and bias.
They also highlight opportunities in four specific areas to further develop AI in the context of relationship therapy: diagnosing relationship problems, providing autonomous treatment to clients, predicting successful treatment outcomes and using biomarkers to monitor client reactions.
“Already we’ve seen some researchers using machine learning to study parenting relationships or diagnose relationship problems. Chatbots could provide treatment to underserved populations or help therapists maximize positive outcomes for their clients. All of the challenges we identified still need to be addressed, but these technologies have the potential to make a real difference,” Puhlman said.
Contact: Casey Kelly, casey.kelly@maine.edu
AI Research
How IBM helped Lockheed Martin streamline its data landscape and fuel its AI
ITPro is a global business technology website providing the latest news, analysis, and business insight for IT decision-makers. Whether it’s cyber security, cloud computing, IT infrastructure, or business strategy, we aim to equip leaders with the data they need to make informed IT investments.
For regular updates delivered to your inbox and social feeds, be sure to sign up to our daily newsletter and follow on us LinkedIn and Twitter.
AI Research
Indonesia on Track to Achieve Sovereign AI Goals With NVIDIA, Cisco and IOH
As one of the world’s largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its “Golden 2045 Vision” — an initiative tapping digital technologies and bringing together government, enterprises, startups and higher education to enhance productivity, efficiency and innovation across industries.
Building out the nation’s AI infrastructure is a crucial part of this plan.
That’s why Indonesian telecommunications leader Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, aka Indosat or IOH, has partnered with Cisco and NVIDIA to support the establishment of Indonesia’s AI Center of Excellence (CoE). Led by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, called Komdigi, the CoE aims to advance secure technologies, cultivate local talent and foster innovation through collaboration with startups.
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison President Director and CEO Vikram Sinha, Cisco Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins and NVIDIA Senior Vice President of Telecom Ronnie Vasishta today detailed the purpose and potential of the CoE during a fireside chat at Indonesia AI Day, a conference focused on how artificial intelligence can fuel the nation’s digital independence and economic growth.
As part of the CoE, a new NVIDIA AI Technology Center will offer research support, NVIDIA Inception program benefits for eligible startups, and NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute training and certification to upskill local talent.
“With the support of global partners, we’re accelerating Indonesia’s path to economic growth by ensuring Indonesians are not just users of AI, but creators and innovators,” Sinha added.
“The AI era demands fundamental architectural shifts and a workforce with digital skills to thrive,” Robbins said. “Together with Indosat, NVIDIA and Komdigi, Cisco will securely power the AI Center of Excellence — enabling innovation and skills development, and accelerating Indonesia’s growth.”
“Democratizing AI is more important than ever,” Vasishta added. “Through the new NVIDIA AI Technology Center, we’re helping Indonesia build a sustainable AI ecosystem that can serve as a model for nations looking to harness AI for innovation and economic growth.”
Making AI More Accessible
The Indonesia AI CoE will comprise an AI factory that features full-stack NVIDIA AI infrastructure — including NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, NVIDIA Cloud Partner reference architectures and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software — as well as an intelligent security system powered by Cisco.
Called the Sovereign Security Operations Center Cloud Platform, the Cisco-powered system combines AI-based threat detection, localized data control and managed security services for the AI factory.
Building on the sovereign AI initiatives Indonesia’s technology leaders announced with NVIDIA last year, the CoE will bolster the nation’s AI strategy through four core pillars:
Some 28 independent software vendors and startups are already using IOH’s NVIDIA-powered AI infrastructure to develop cutting-edge technologies that can speed and ease workflows across higher education and research, food security, bureaucratic reform, smart cities and mobility, and healthcare.
With Indosat’s coverage across the archipelago, the company can reach hundreds of millions of Bahasa Indonesian speakers with its large language model (LLM)-powered applications.
For example, using Indosat’s Sahabat-AI collection of Bahasa Indonesian LLMs, the Indonesia government and Hippocratic AI are collaborating to develop an AI agent system that provides preventative outreach capabilities, such as helping women subscribers over the age of 50 schedule a mammogram. This can help prevent or combat breast cancer and other health complications across the population.
Separately, Sahabat-AI also enables Indosat’s AI chatbot to answer queries in the Indonesian language for various citizen and resident services. A person could ask about processes for updating their national identification card, as well as about tax rates, payment procedures, deductions and more.
In addition, a government-led forum is developing trustworthy AI frameworks tailored to Indonesian values for the safe, responsible development of artificial intelligence and related policies.
Looking forward, Indosat and NVIDIA plan to deploy AI-RAN technologies that can reach even broader audiences using AI over wireless networks.
Learn more about NVIDIA-powered AI infrastructure for telcos.
AI Research
Silicon Valley eyes a governance-lite gold rush
Andreessen Horowitz has had enough of Delaware and is moving a unit’s incorporation out west
Source link
-
Funding & Business1 week ago
Kayak and Expedia race to build AI travel agents that turn social posts into itineraries
-
Jobs & Careers1 week ago
Mumbai-based Perplexity Alternative Has 60k+ Users Without Funding
-
Mergers & Acquisitions1 week ago
Donald Trump suggests US government review subsidies to Elon Musk’s companies
-
Funding & Business1 week ago
Rethinking Venture Capital’s Talent Pipeline
-
Jobs & Careers1 week ago
Why Agentic AI Isn’t Pure Hype (And What Skeptics Aren’t Seeing Yet)
-
Education3 days ago
9 AI Ethics Scenarios (and What School Librarians Would Do)
-
Education4 days ago
Teachers see online learning as critical for workforce readiness in 2025
-
Education1 week ago
AERDF highlights the latest PreK-12 discoveries and inventions
-
Education4 days ago
Nursery teachers to get £4,500 to work in disadvantaged areas
-
Education6 days ago
How ChatGPT is breaking higher education, explained