AI Inside: How Yara AI is Tackling the Mental Health Crisis (with Joe Braidwood)
For December 4, 2024
Howdy folks! I’m so happy this morning because last night, I skipped down to San Francisco to attend my co-host and friend Jeff Jarvis’s Commonwealth Club interview where he discussed the topics from his new book, The Web We Weave. Yes, Jeff is a friend and podcast co-host. Even still, I’m a huge fanboy of his work so it was great to sit in the audience and watch him do his thing. Even better, he signed my copy of the book! See, I’m a fanboy too.
As such, he was not on yesterday’s episode of AI Inside. In his place, I invited an old friend from the All About Android days to join me for the hour. Joe Braidwood first came onto my radar in the early 2010s when he Co-founded SwiftKey. You might remember in the early days of smartphone apps, there was the standard keyboard that was presented to users on Android devices. Eventually, there were keyboard replacements. SwiftKey, along with Swype, was one of the most popular keyboard replacements offering a swiping entry along with typing suggestions while you typed. Even back then, apps like SwiftKey were doing AI-ish things in prediction and correction. Microsoft agreed and acquired the company in 2016.
Since then, Joe Braidwood has kept himself active in the medical and artificial intelligence space. He just launched his new venture, Yara AI, in many ways the evolution of that old ELIZA program from the 60’s. This time, however, it’s a highly tuned AI that is purpose built for mental health and wellness discussion.
Joe and I talk about so many aspect of this fascinating topic. It is, after all, a topic that comes up on the AI Inside podcast regularly.
The SwiftKey to Yara Connection
Joe detailed the connective tissue between his SwiftKey days to founding Yara AI. The common thread? The power of language and deep learning. As Joe put it, "What can we do to understand language and to shape language in a way that adds a ton of value?"
AI for Mental Wellness
Yara AI isn't just another chatbot. Plenty of people have spun up an instance of ChatGPT with a similar goal, but due to its broad data set, it can often give underwhelming results for this kind of application. Yara a purpose-built system designed to make mental wellness more widely accessible. Joe explained, "We want to measure how long it takes to get help in seconds, not in days." Speaking of accessibility, not everyone has the kind of money needed for mental health and wellness support today. Systems like these could be a great first step.
Beyond Token Limits
One important aspect of Yara is its approach to memory and continuity. Unlike many large language models that start from scratch each session, Yara is being designed to maintain context across conversations. As Joe described it, "What if it just doesn't do that? What if it just keeps going? What if the memory is as large as it has to be?"
Safety First
Joe discussed the ways in which Yara has been designed with Safety and Privacy as key focuses, as users would expect out of a mental health tool. Not only that, it’s HIPAA compliant. Joe also emphasized that the system is designed to recognize when a topic is too big for it or when a user might need clinical help. This responsible approach is crucial in the mental health space.
The Future of Digital Mental Health
Joe hinted at some exciting developments on the horizon, including more personalized user journeys and optional onboarding quizzes, similar to what happens when you sit down with a therapist for the first time. It's clear that Yara AI is aiming to contribute to what digital mental health support can look like in the age of large language models. This conversation with Joe left even me more excited about the potential for AI to make a positive impact on the world in meaningful ways. It's a perfect example of why I love doing this show.
Joe made sure to mention that Yara is in open beta at the moment. Go to meetyara.com and apply for the beta, and it shouldn’t be long before you are given access so you can start to test it out for yourself.
What do you think about AI-powered mental health support? Are you curious about the possibilities, or do you have concerns? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And of course, be sure to check out the full episode for all the details on Yara AI and Joe's insights on the intersection of AI and mental health.