In the last five years, mental health needs have skyrocketed as support systems have become increasingly inaccessible. 

That’s why Alison Darcy, a clinical research psychologist and health tech designer, created Woebot Health — the world’s first clinically trained therapeutic AI. 

On April 9, New York Times-bestselling author Kelly Corrigan invited Darcy to the TED stage in Vancouver, Canada, to lay out the benefits — and concerns — surrounding AI therapy. 

From the onset of the conversation, Corrigan honed in on a question that continues to surface in the larger discourse on AI: Is this tool meant to replace human interaction? 

“It's never about replacing the great human therapists that we have,” Darcy emphasized. “Most people aren't getting in front of a therapist, and even if they are, they're not there beside you as you live your life.”

Corrigan then raised three points of concern: Who pays for the service? Are the transcripts private? And what data does Woebot train on? 

The price, Darcy replied, is currently covered by a network of health services, privacy is integral to the company, and the data is built on cognitive behavioral therapy practices built by trained professionals.

“I really believe in what human therapists do,” Darcy said. “But it doesn't matter how good a therapist is. You could be the best therapist in the world. But unless you're with your patient at 2 a.m. when they are having a panic attack, you can't help them in that moment.”

“Therapy doesn't happen in a vacuum,” she added. “We all have real lives.”

But Corrigan was still skeptical. 

“Sometimes I wonder,” Corrigan said, continuing to press, “if we might inadvertently be creating the conditions for a total rejection of humanity, of dumb, boring, incomplete, half-asleep humans, when you could have this thing that is so hyper-responsive. Do you feel like people, once they find Woebot, they never want to leave it?”

“A great process is just asking the person the right questions,” Darcy replied. “They're the ones that have to do all of the work.”

“They're the ones that have to shift their mindset or acknowledge their role in a conflict with somebody and tune in to their deepest, darkest, negative thinking. And that stuff is hard, and that is all on the person. The AI is just going to ask you the right questions to get there.”

Darcy also pointed out that most Woebot users aren’t sitting on the app for the full length of an hour-long session. 

In fact, she said, the average length of a Woebot encounter is 5 to 6 minutes at a time. 

“About 75 to 80 percent of all of those conversations are happening outside of clinic hours,” Darcy said. “The longest conversations people have are between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.” 

Darcy then paints a metaphor for the audience, likening Woebot to tennis ball machines that launch balls to players so they can practice their swing and “get better at the game with another human.”

“It very much should be about helping people develop their own resources. … These are fundamentally tools,” Darcy said. 

The end goal, Darcy said, is “human betterment.”

Corrigan wrapped the TED discussion — which is expected to be released online in the coming year — by asking Darcy, “Do you have a thought about which has more potential for damage, an AI or a human?”

“That is a big question,” Darcy replied, pausing to proceed carefully.
“I think the AIs have plenty of potential for damage, as do humans, and it's very early days with the technology. The thing is that we have the opportunity to develop AIs with intentionality.”

“So we'll see, fundamentally, these are just tools, and also humanity is humanity for a reason … we have to make sure that the tech is in service of humans, not the other way around.”

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Header images: Host Kelly Corrigan and Alison Darcy speak at SESSION 7 at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined. April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. Photo: Gilberto Tadday and Jason Redmond / TED