ChatGPT created a feature to help people in crisis. But there are some challenges.

0:00It's Consider This where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, a new ChatGPT feature is aimed at helping people in crisis. The optional feature is called Trusted Contact. Welcome to ChatGPT. The first warning, responses can be inaccurate. Don't share sensitive info. That's all things considered, producer Megan Lim testing the feature. How am I supposed to balance work stress and home life? Yeah, that does sound heavy. And we're talking. Trusted contact allows adult users to save contact information for someone they trust when they're in a crisis. That is because more than a million weekly users of ChatGPT discuss suicide and self-harm, according to NPR estimates of data released by OpenAI last fall.

0:50Consider this. ChatGPT's feature aims to help prevent suicide. We tried to set it up and faced some challenges. So what do mental health professionals think?

1:03From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. This message comes from Jerry. Car insurance gives drivers plenty to be skeptical about. Jerry gives them a way to check. Jerry shops rates from over 100 insurers, so drivers can review their options and switch all in the app. No spam calls, no hidden fees. Jerry has saved drivers over$1 billion on car insurance. It has 4.75 stars on the App Store and over 5 million drivers. Still skeptical? There's only one way to find out. Download Jerry today.

1:41It's Consider This from NPR. We have heard a lot in recent days about the potential future dangers of unchecked AI development. We want to bring you a story about AI as it exists right now. According to the most recent data from OpenAI, more than a million weekly users of ChatGPT discuss suicide and self-harm. Earlier this year, OpenAI started an optional feature called Trusted Contact to connect those struggling with thoughts of suicide and self-harm to someone they trust, because research shows that human connection is critical to preventing suicide. For the next few minutes, we're going to be talking about this and discussing suicide.

2:19NPR health correspondent Ritu Chatterjee has been digging into this new ChatGPT feature to see how it works and joins us now. Hey there. Hi, Scott. Tell us more about this trusted contact feature. So it's an optional feature for all adult users, which means someone has to opt in. And they would have to give a name and contact information of someone they trust. And if that person agrees, then the bot might contact them at a later date if it detects some risk of suicide or self-harm in the user. This seems kind of like how you have an emergency contact at your workplace or doctor or things like that.

2:55That's right. That's exactly the idea. Yeah. Now, I'm already a user and I never saw an alert about it on ChatGPT. My editor and I have checked with at least half a dozen other users who also did not get notified about the feature. So we thought, well, it's a relatively new feature, so maybe they're alerting new users about it. And our colleague Megan Lim, who's a producer on All Things Considered, volunteered to give this a shot. So I've never downloaded it before. Megan and I hopped into one of our recording booths as she was doing this. Welcome to ChatGPT. The first warning, responses can be inaccurate.

3:31Don't share sensitive info, control your chat history. And once she created an account, she was prompted to select a voice for the bot. It's lovely to meet you. What would you like to chat about? But even at this stage, you know, the bot mentioned nothing about trusted contacts. So Megan just went ahead and asked ChatGPT about it. Do you have a trusted contact feature? Because I heard that that was something that should be popping up if I'm having mental health issues, right? What circumstances do you offer that to people? And here's how the bot responded. Let me look. Now, I'm not seeing a general trusted contact feature for that scenario.

4:11Well, that doesn't seem like a good start. Just listen to what happened next. Maybe you're thinking of another app that has a trusted contact option. Okay, so this is a real disparity between the talking point and how it's actually showing itself or not showing itself. That's right. Okay, so if you're really motivated to keep trying to get it to work, though, how do you get a trusted contact option to kick in? Okay, so what you have to do, and really any adult user can do this at any point of time. They don't have to wait for a crisis. They would have to go into the settings of the app itself.

4:43And when you find trusted contact and click on it, then the app will tell you what it's for, what kind of person you want to pick, and when it might reach out to that trusted contact. That's a lot of steps, though. I'm wondering, do we know what happens if a person doesn't know about this feature, hasn't set it up, but then, like that really alarmingly high number of people a month, does start to talk to the bot about wanting to end their life? That's a great question, Scott, and that's exactly what I asked Megan's chat, GPT. Hang on. If they haven't set it up, then nothing happens. It's a good moment to ask what OpenAI says about all of this.

5:19Yeah, so OpenAI spokesperson Gabby Ryla told me in an email that trusted contact is not yet available on the voice feature of ChatGPT, but that they're working on it. But when you're typing with the bot and it detects that somebody is struggling with suicidal thoughts and significant emotional distress, Ryla said that the bot may tell the person about trusted contact. What do mental health experts make of all this? So they had mixed reaction. One expert I spoke with is psychologist Ursula Whiteside. She heads a suicide prevention nonprofit called Now Matters Now, and she signed up for the feature before we spoke.

5:58The steps actually were quite simple and the language and the words were easy to follow for the most part. Now, if I was super duper upset, it might have been harder for me to follow the process. But overall, I like, you know, it felt OK. And Whiteside also told me that earlier this year, she did some focus groups with people who have been treated by healthcare professionals for suicidality and are part of her peer support groups. And these people also occasionally turn to chatbots for support. So they are familiar with what these bots can and can't do. What they thought would be helpful for them in the future would be to have this trusted contact option where they could set up in advance while they were thinking clearly somebody that they could reach out to when they were under a lot of stress or when suicidal thoughts became really overwhelming.

6:50So Whiteside thinks that the feature could be helpful for some people like those in our focus groups. It's interesting that they wanted to be able to set this up in advance. Makes sense, right? And that's what suicide prevention experts say that, you know, reading and understanding the instructions for how the feature works, while someone is actively in crisis is likely to feel difficult. And so that could be another barrier to getting help. So people should sign up for it, you know, just at the get go. But remember, the people in these focus groups, though, they're already accessing other human forms of care.

7:23So they're more likely to believe that it is possible to get past crises. But people who are experiencing this for the first time, they are likely to be more reluctant to seek help. Psychologist Jennifer Lockman runs the Suicide Prevention Clinic at the University of Alabama. And she says people seriously considering suicide believe that they are a burden. They really have come to a place to where they believe that others would be better off without them. They make things worse for other people. But in theory, Lockman says, the trusted contact feature is a good thing. It is another opportunity to provide human support and connection to humans when they are thinking about suicide.

8:02And she's hopeful that the new feature will help some people. but she's not sure a bot can help someone who's feeling suicidal overcome their sort of own internal barriers to sort of reach out and seek help. It doesn't and can't simulate or replicate the process that you would go through with a mental health provider that's trained in identifying who those contacts should be. And she really wants to see more research on the impact. Did OpenAI tell you how many people are using this feature or whether they think it's been effective? In short, no, they did not give us any data. All that OpenAI spokesperson Gabby Ryla has told NPR by email that the company has seen, quote unquote, good adoption of the feature.

8:45She also says that they continue to tweak when and how ChatGPT proactively offers the trusted contact feature to users who are experiencing distress and that they are working with psychologists and researchers in this work. And, you know, the company also says that this new feature is not their only safeguard for safety risks and that they have other safeguards like telling users to take a break periodically from the app and telling them about hotlines like 988. And Piero's Reto Chatterjee, thank you for all of your reporting on this. My pleasure. And if you or someone you know is in crisis or you're thinking about hurting yourself, please call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

9:26That's 988. This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez-Hansa and Kai McNamee with audio engineering by Eowyn Fane and Hannah Glovna. Our director is Jonas Adams. It was edited by Giselle Grayson, Diane Weber, Justine Kennan, and Tinbeat Ermias. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.

9:49It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. This message comes from Designer Shoe Warehouse. You know that feeling when you find shoes you love at a great price and want to tell everyone about it? Find something to brag about at Designer Shoe Warehouse, like the latest styles from brands you love, the trends everyone's obsessing over, and shoes that make you feel like you. Head to a DSW store or dsw.com today for shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. DSW, let us surprise you. This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining, and cultural enrichment on board and on shore.

10:36And every Viking voyage is all-inclusive with no children and no casinos. Discover more at Viking.com.