The therapists using AI to make therapy better

Early evidence suggests omicron is better at re-infecting people

Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Therapy's hidden depths 12.06.21 Good morning and happy Monday! Today we discover how AI is helping psychotherapists to become better at their jobs—with the goal of getting people better, for longer. Also: the early data on omicron indicates it's more transmissible and better at re-infecting people, but causes less severe illness. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The therapists using AI to make therapy better    Kevin Cowley was plagued with poor mental health for his entire adult life after surviving the horrific Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 94 English soccer fans died in a crowd crush. He suffered flashbacks and insomnia, and blocked out the worst of it by drinking. He tried therapy in 2004, but it didn't help. Then, two years ago, he spotted a poster advertising internet therapy, and he decided to give it a go. Cowley, now 49, is at last recovering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s amazing how a few words can change a life,” says Andrew Blackwell, chief scientific officer at Ieso, the UK-based mental health clinic treating Cowley. What’s crucial is delivering the right words at the right time. Blackwell and his colleagues at Ieso are pioneering a new approach to mental health care in which the language used in therapy sessions is analyzed by an AI. The idea is to use natural-language processing (NLP) to identify which parts of a conversation between therapist and client seem to be most effective at treating different disorders. The aim is to help experienced therapists maintain a high standard of care and help trainees improve. Amid a global shortfall in care, an automated form of quality control could be essential in helping clinics meet demand, too. Ultimately, the approach may even reveal exactly how psychotherapy works in the first place, something that clinicians and researchers are still largely in the dark about. Read the full story. —Will Douglas Heaven and Charlotte Jee We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + I didn’t mean to start The International War of the Snow Plow Names 2021 BUT an envoy from Vermont has been in touch and he wants you to know they’re pretty good at this game too, with entries like Edgar Allen Snow, William Scrape-speare and Jennifer Snowpez. Maine, Scotland, consider yourselves warned.   + New life goal: become as relaxed as this dog.   + Snow caused a total meltdown for these robot couriers in Estonia.   + A fun arty town-building game thingy.   + A massive murmuration of budgies has turned parts of Australia’s Northern Territory green and gold. Early Bird Savings are here (for a limited time).  MIT Technology Review's signature AI conference decision makers and leaders put AI to work for business. For a limited time, save 25% on your VIP hybrid or Online ticket. Register now. Sponsor Message JPMorgan Chase is more than a global financial institution It is one of the world's largest technology organizations. With over 50,000 technologists across 21 Global Technology Centers, JPMorgan Chase designs, builds and deploys technology that enables solutions that are transforming the financial services industry and beyond.  Learn more → The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Early evidence suggests omicron is better at re-infecting people It looks like an earlier infection only offers half as much protection against omicron as it does against delta. (Science)   + But early data from South Africa indicates it causes less severe illness. (STAT)   + Part of the reason why it seems to be more transmissible may be because it shares genetic code with the common cold, researchers say. (WP $)   + Notably, omicron is yet to cause a single death, according to the World Health Organization. (Slate $)   + Omicron is already spreading widely in Europe. (NYT $)   + It might feel hard to believe right now, but this pandemic WILL end. (The Guardian)  2  Is omicron uncertainty giving you anxiety? Here’s how to manage it.  “Focus on what you can control” is eternally good advice. (NYT $)   + How to navigate covid news without spiraling. (TR)  3 NSO spyware was used to hack State Department employees’ phones The firm’s future is starting to look very shaky indeed. (Reuters $)   + NSO was about to sell hacking tools to France. Now it’s in crisis. (TR)   + The US will lead a global crackdown on the use of surveillance tech by authoritarian governments. (WSJ $)  4 Big Tech CEOs are tiring of the platforms they’ve created  And that’s why they’re retreating to the fantasy worlds of crypto, Web3 and the metaverse. (The Atlantic $)   + How Twitter is failing African countries. (Wired $)   + Cryptomania will not end at Twitter with Jack Dorsey’s departure. (Wired $)   + Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal will be under pressure to deliver quick results. (FT $)  5 Elon Musk’s rocky relationship with China  Local rivals are gunning for Tesla—and it’s losing market share. (WSJ $)   + Courtney Love took Musk to task on Twitter after he was rude to Bernie Sanders. (The Verge)  6 Why you should get excited for the James Webb Space Telescope It will drastically expand our understanding of the birth of the universe—if it works. (Quanta)   7 There’s hype swirling about a new Apple product coming next year It seems likely it’s going to be something you put on your face. (WSJ $)   8 Jimmy Wales is auctioning his first Wikipedia entry as an NFT Et tu, Jimmy. 🤦‍♀️ (Vice)   + Even NFT investors admit the market is becoming a bubble. (CNBC)   9 You’ve never been so crushingly aware how much you suck at gaming Remember the blissfully ignorant time before leaderboards and YouTube clips?! (Wired $)   10 We’re in the midst of a wave of digital nostalgia Pixel art and deliberately janky-looking 2000s aesthetics are all the rage right now. (New Yorker $) Quote of the day “There are just eyes on you, always on you. Kids grew up watching me for 10 hours a day. It feels like it’s been my whole life.” —Twitch streamer Tyler Steinkamp tells the Washington Post that the demands of his always-on, always-performing job are wrecking his mental health.  Top image credit: KAROLIN SCHNOOR Please send snow plow name title contenders to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Becoming an AI-Driven Business Join us | March 29–30, 2022 For a limited time, get early bird savings when you register by December 31 Register now Want to change how you receive these emails? You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list.  Subscription Information This message was sent to  Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally    Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142