Understanding and Evaluating AI for Mental Health

Overview

This course is designed for students and professionals in psychology, medicine, and other clinical disciplines who want to build a practical understanding of AI and the skills to evaluate it critically. You will explore the core concepts behind modern AI systems, including Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Large Language Models, learning how these technologies work on a conceptual level and why they are increasingly relevant to mental health.

You will also learn how to assess whether AI systems are trustworthy, with a focus on validity, reliability, and bias — and what it means for an AI tool to be safe and fair for use across diverse patient groups. Throughout, expert interviews with researchers and developers bring these concepts to life from the perspective of people who have actually built these systems.

By the end of this course, you will have the foundation to understand, question, and critically evaluate AI tools — an essential skill as AI becomes increasingly present in mental health practice.

Syllabus

• Introduction to Artificial intelligence (AI)
Welcome to this module, where we introduce you to this course and then move to the fundamentals of AI in mental health—what it is, how it works, and the techniques behind it, such as Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Large Language Models. Rather than overwhelming you with technical details, the goal is to give you a practical, working understanding of AI and highlight what matters most for clinical practice.
• How to Evaluate AI: Validity and Reliability
Welcome to this module on validity and reliability, where we discuss the importance of carefully training and thoroughly evaluating AI. We will cover what validity and reliability mean in the context of AI, how bias can emerge and lead to unfair outcomes, and why psychometrics matter for developing safe and effective AI applications for mental health.

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Taught by

Oscar Kjell, Veerle Eijsbroek, and Katarina Kjell

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Subjects

Artificial Intelligence