Mental health professionals should be careful with AI, psychiatrist says
UCI Health expert cautions about risks of the technology amid its benefits
IN THE NEWS: Continued innovations in artificial intelligence have led to potential applications in the healthcare space. For now, though, the technology will not replace psychiatrists and mental health clinicians, says UCI Health psychiatrist Dr. John Luo.
Luo, the director of Emergency & Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at UCI Health Psychiatry Services, spoke with the Psychiatric Times at the 2025 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting about the use of AI in psychiatry. He also shared while technological advances are very exciting, it’s important that clinicians understand AI before implementing it into their practices.
"It really has no understanding of what [psychiatric disorders] are and that is a hazard... People get advice that can be really inappropriate, and that can be really damaging."
Luo expresses concern about youth and adolescents, who may not fully understand the risks of AI.
“There’s a lot of stuff out there, both scientifically based and pure opinion. How do we teach our younger generation to appropriately understand the strengths and weaknesses [of AI]?”
Luo is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized educator and expert on behavioral health informatics. He has presented at numerous conferences, written books and articles on technology use in mental health and has been recognized locally and nationally for excellence in teaching.
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UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves nearly 5.7 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).