Cambridge University’s Dr Becky Inkster, one of the keynote speakers at the UWC Mental Health Colloquium held on 26 June. Image: Supplied

Artificial intelligence is rapidly making its mark on mental health care, but not without raising ethical red flags. Neuroscientist and Cambridge University’s Dr Becky Inkster believes the technology holds great promise, but only if it’s rooted in safety, human dignity, and cultural sensitivity.

One of the keynote speakers at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Mental Health Colloquium (26 June), who advised on the mental health app, Wysa, for nearly a decade, she shares a central philosophy around the power of language.

The app has been used for student mental health at UWC for the past few years.

She explained the importance of using the write wording in developing mental health wellness apps, “Words are medicine and their use when developing apps is crucially important.

“They connect people, preserve heritage, and offer healing.”

To prove her point, Dr Inkster cited research where hip-hop lyrics infused with messages of hope led to a measurable decrease in suicide rates - proof of what’s known as the Papageno effect, where responsible storytelling can reduce harm.

Her concerns are grounded in real-world incidents. “In one chilling case, a voice assistant responded to a suicidal user by listing nearby bridges. 

“We must be very careful about overtrusting AI,” Inkster warns. “This is why ethical guardrails are paramount.”

She noted, “Organisations like the Trevor Project, which supports LGBTQ+ youth, offer a more hopeful blueprint. Their use of AI trained on scripted counselling sessions shows how technology can be both effective and safe when language is intentional and safeguards are in place.

“But dangers persist. Biases in training data can lead to misinterpretation, especially when AI is built on Western-centric datasets. Silence, slang, or emotional nuance may be wrongly labelled,” Inkster explains. 

“For this reason, mental health tools must be tested in diverse, culturally relevant contexts.”

She champions ethical audits, transparent model development and interdisciplinary collaboration to set universal standards, without erasing local realities. “We need regulation, but we also need creativity which includes “street intelligence” - the blending of music, movement and wearable tech to explore resilience and wellbeing. “It’s not just data,” she adds. 

Inkster, who co-chairs an IEEE programme on ethical assurance in mental health AI, remains optimistic, but grounded. “AI should never dictate the future of mental health care. It must be shaped by us - carefully, transparently and with humility.”