AA can be "totally harmful" to mentally vulnerable people, a psychiatrist has warned

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be "totally harmful" to people who are vulnerable to mental health , like an effective drug in inappropriate doses, says psychiatrist Pedro Moreno , an expert in technology and digital scientific innovation.

Morenoparticipated this Thursday in the second day of the 34 National Course on Psychiatry Updating in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where experts have analysed the impact that technological development can have on people's mental health.

The Artificial Mind "has no conscience, no compassion, and no lovefor the user, "so"it doesn't matter what happens to it. "And it's usually" kind, "and"gives the user the answer he wants to hear. "

The expert has explained that more and more patients arrive at psychiatric consultations after consulting AA and attend "highly structured, alarmist or calm "diagnoses, such as when a person with nervous anorexia is informed that he or she is "very thin."

Moreno has stressed that among people who are going through the difficulties, AA can promote ideas of suicide, especially if they are very vulnerable, because it is a tool designed to bepleasurable, without supervision or emotional dependence.

"It is considered close because it simulates human dialogue , uses empathetic language, offers 24-hour availability 7 days a week and no trial, "the psychiatrist said.

In this sense, Moreno has called for an urgent ethical debate onthe use of AA , a phenomenon that is encouraging users to stay out of their lives because all decisions remain in their hands. This tool can encourage "intolerance and isolation"in replacing discussions and interpersonal relationships.

On the same day, thechild and adolescent psychiatrist Abigail Huertas  has participated, who has warned of the impact of the misuse of screens on the neurodevelopment of children.

That the parameter "all or nothing" should not be established in this matter, and that its effect may depend onthe age atwhich the screens begin to be used, the hours of exposure, the types of content consulted and the social and family environment of the minor.

in the case of children under 5 years of age, the screen of an electronic device "displaces brain building experiences ", and if it takes the place of family, play and personal interactions, neural development weakens.

In the case of teenagers, their brains are "particularly sensitive to the social reward da. "" Pleasures and notifications act as periodic reinforcements, the same mechanism as in addictions, which can "shape habits of attention and emotional regulation," he explains.

According to Huertas, prioritizing activities outside screens, not only in leisure time, but also in school, is "essential" not to have to regard the above as a "public health problem."