The Silicon Shrink
How Artificial Intelligence Made the World an Asylum
Daniel Oberhaus
- Why
- the
- race
- to
- apply
- AI
- in
- psychiatry
- is
- so
- dangerous,
- and
- how
- to
- understand
- the
- new
- tech-driven
- psychiatric
- paradigm.AI
- psychiatrists
- promise
- to
- detect
- mental
- disorders
- with
- superhuman
- accuracy,
- provide
- affordable
- therapy
- for
- those
- who
- can’t
- afford
- or
- can’t
- access
- treatment,
- and
- even
- invent
- new
- psychiatric
- drugs.
- But
- the
- hype
- obscures
- an
- unnerving
- reality.
- In
- The
- Silicon
- Shrink,
- Daniel
- Oberhaus
- tells
- the
- inside
- story
- of
- how
- the
- quest
- to
- use
- AI
- in
- psychiatry
- has
- created
- the
- conditions
- to
- turn
- the
- world
- into
- an
- asylum.
- Most
- of
- these
- systems,
- he
- writes,
- have
- vanishingly
- little
- evidence
- that
- they
- improve
- patient
- outcomes,
- but
- the
- risks
- they
- pose
- have
- less
- to
- do
- with
- technological
- shortcomings
- than
- the
- application
- of
- deeply
- flawed
- psychiatric
- models
- of
- mental
- disorder
- at
- unprecedented
- scale.Oberhaus
- became
- interested
- in
- the
- subject
- of
- mental
- health
- after
- tragically
- losing
- his
- sister
- to
- suicide.
- In
- the
- book,
- he
- argues
- that
- these
- new,
- ostensibly
- therapeutic
- technologies
- already
- pose
- significant
- risks
- to
- vulnerable
- people,
- and
- they
- won’t
- stop
- there.
- These
- new
- breeds
- of
- AI
- systems
- are
- creating
- a
- psychiatric
- surveillance
- economy
- in
- which
- the
- emotions,
- behavior,
- and
- cognition
- of
- everyday
- people
- are
- subtly
- manipulated
- by
- psychologically
- savvy
- algorithms
- that
- have
- escaped
- the
- clinic.
- Oberhaus
- also
- introduces
- readers
- to
- the
- concept
- of
- “swipe
- psychology,”
- which
- is
- quickly
- establishing
- itself
- as
- the
- dominant
- mode
- of
- diagnosing
- and
- treating
- mental
- disorders.It
- is
- not
- too
- late
- to
- change
- course,
- but
- to
- do
- so
- means
- we
- must
- reckon
- with
- the
- nature
- of
- mental
- illness,
- the
- limits
- of
- technology,
- and
- what
- it
- means
- to
- be human.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
