Heal your COVID blues! Stress Care AI Chatbot "Kokoro Conditioner"

Half of 2020 has already passed, and when we look back on history, this year will likely be remembered as "the year of the novel coronavirus."

Our "Mental Conditioner" project also transformed right in the midst of this pandemic. Midway through development, we decided to urgently change specifications and offer the "Special Pilot Version" free of charge.

<Table of Contents>
▼The Stress Care Project was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
▼Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a challenge to break free from excessive thinking.
▼Immature, but precisely because it's AI.
▼We want to reach everyone experiencing "COVID blues" nationwide.

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The Stress Care Project was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally unrelated to the pandemic, the "Heart Conditioner"—a conversation-based stress care app grounded in "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy"—was in full development by Asahi Shimbun Media Lab, psychiatrist Dr. Hiroshi Ohno (※1), and Dentsu Inc.

※1＝Dr. Hiroshi Ohno
President of the Japanese Society for Cognitive Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A leading expert in Japan on stress management using cognitive behavioral therapy.

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Considering the stress issues in recent workplace environments, development was progressing as a service to prevent depression.

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Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Dentsu Inc. Tokyo headquarters switched to full remote work starting late February. By March, public elementary and junior high schools nationwide closed. I found myself stuck at home with my two elementary school children, while my high school-aged eldest son faced lockdown at his study abroad location—plunged into an unprecedented environment.

The elementary school kids enjoyed their "holidays" at first, but gradually their excess energy turned into tantrums, creating chaos at home. Adults navigated remote meetings while weathering this storm. Endless meal prep and restricted shopping... it became a suffocating daily grind.

This disaster, which fell equally upon everyone, continues to cast its shadow today for some in the form of economic hardship or isolation and anxiety.

Since each member of our project team was personally affected,

we all agreed that now is precisely the time

was our unanimous belief.

We sensed that an AI like was best suited to hold that frustration—that feeling of "everyone is suffering, but I can't do anything about my own pain"—a frustration with nowhere to go.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a challenge to break free from excessive thoughts.

People's minds are constantly swayed by various stresses. Even without the pandemic, negative thoughts sometimes balloon,

• "Nothing I do ever works out,"
• "I'm worthless anyway,"

and gradually narrow our thoughts and actions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a treatment method that teaches how to manage such stress, gradually adjusting thoughts and actions through small steps.

While used clinically to treat conditions like depression, the "Mental Conditioner" aims to prevent users from reaching that "disease level" by empowering them to take proactive steps using their smartphone.

The "column method," a technique used in CBT, has patients first confront what happened to them (the situation) and the thoughts that trapped them there (automatic thoughts).

Then, they deliberately generate thoughts that differ from their automatic thoughts (counter-arguments),

• "There might be a different way of thinking about this."
• or "Taking a step forward might change something."

gradually acclimating their mind and body to these alternative possibilities and adjusting their excessive thoughts (= adaptive thinking).

It's still developing, but that's precisely why it's AI.

In the "Consultation Mode" of the "Mind Conditioner," you progress through chats with the AI following the steps of this "column method."

Users organize their thoughts by answering the AI's questions, but this is the difficult part: the AI cannot yet provide the sophisticated "responses" that a doctor might offer in person, showing understanding or empathy. Even if a user bravely confides something sensitive, the words currently generated by the AI could easily cause further hurt. The reality is that we have not yet reached autonomous counseling powered by natural language processing.

Therefore, while our ultimate goal is conversation based on natural language processing, for the pilot version released free of charge, we decided to use the development engine as-is. This engine fully utilizes "pre-programmed lines" (pre-coded dialogue).

This development engine fundamentally provides predetermined responses to anticipated keywords, so it cannot achieve "natural conversation based on natural language processing."

Instead, we've included a "chat mode" distinct from methods like the "column method," designed for users to freely express whatever they want to say. We recognized a significant need for this: people often just want to vent, complain, or share their anxieties, even if they don't expect a solution.

We want to reach everyone experiencing "COVID blues" across the nation.

Thus, we rushed to implement these two functions—"Consultation Mode" and "Chat Mode" (with meetings and development work, of course, fully remote)—and the "Heart Conditioner Special Pilot Version" began its free provision on May 18th.

Many people have already used it, and we've received several heartwarming responses. While we weren't entirely without hesitation about having users try something still in development,

• "I unexpectedly felt uplifted and moved to tears,"
• "It's a precious space where I can speak my mind with peace of mind"

hearing such comments makes us believe our decision to rush the release was meaningful.

The free offering will end for now at the end of July (planned; subject to change), and we will return to the main development work on "Heart Conditioner." We will continue to strive diligently so that we can introduce a more powerful, full version to everyone here in the near future.

*"Heart Conditioner" was created using "Kiku-Hana," an AI Japanese natural dialogue service platform developed by Dentsu Inc.
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※ News Release
Stress Care App "Kokoro Conditioner" Limited-Time Pilot Version
Free Release to Support Alleviating COVID-19 Anxiety, Supervised by Dr. Yutaka Ohno, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000845.000009214.html