Would you trust an AI to prescribe you mind-altering psychiatric medications? In the midst of numerous controversies surrounding chatbot therapy or AI giving bad (or dangerous) medical advicea healthcare provider is betting that you will and has received regulatory approval in the state of Utah to do so.
Legion Health has launched a pilot program in which its AI chatbot, provided by health technology company Doctronic, will prescribe prescription medications. However, there are many caveats about what can and cannot be prescribed. According to the advertisement, stained by The edgeThe chatbot will only prescribe medications that are considered lower risk, for example, SSRIs like sertraline (Zoloft) for depression instead of habit-forming medications like benzodiazepines or some ADHD medications like Adderall.
Furthermore, the chatbot can only provide medications for which consumers already have a prescription, rather than distributing entirely new medications to users. Consumers are expected to answer 15 questions covering topics such as their mood, general health and any side effects of their current medication before receiving their prescription. The service will cost users approximately $20.
“Prescription renewals make up a large part of the daily administrative burden of healthcare,” the announcement from the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy said. “By automating these routine, secure requests, Doctronic hopes to help doctors focus more on patient care, reduce delays, and make it easier for patients to stay in control of their medications.”
Other safeguards appear to be in place during the early stages of the project. The first phase of the rollout will include a mandatory review by a human doctor, which will be phased out. Despite these safeguards, many within the psychiatric profession have already raised concerns ahead of the launch. John Torous, director of digital psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, questioned whether any AI system “can understand the unique context and factors involved in a person’s medication” in a comment to The Verge. He added that many patients require “active management” and “careful consideration,” which can be more difficult to provide through a chatbot.
Recommended by our editors
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It may be loading or may have been deleted.
It is not yet clear whether we will see more of this type of AI psychiatry in the state of Utah. According to Utah’s regulator, it will collect qualitative and quantitative data on the real-world impact of AI during the year the experiment runs before making permanent changes to state law. However, Legion management remains hopeful: Legion CEO Arthur Macwaters says the chatbot could be available in every US state “very quickly.”
Get our best stories!
Your daily dose of our top tech news
By clicking Register, you confirm that you are over 16 years of age and agree to our Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
About our expert
Experience
I’m a reporter covering the weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I collected bylines at BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.
I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I am passionate about the intersection between technology and human life. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK and Russian politics and foreign affairs.
Read full biography
