Nearly half of U.S. LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 24 thought they needed mental-health counseling in 2020 but didn’t receive it, according to a report from the Trevor Project, a nonprofit LGBTQ suicide-prevention organization. To help meet demand and train more counselors, the group partnered with Google.org to create Riley, a genderqueer Black teenager from North Carolina who also happens to be an AI chatbot. Riley is a skilled conversationalist and can remember the details it shares throughout a conversation, which helps trainees learn how to show they are listening and absorbing what a person in crisis is sharing. Since its launch in January 2021, Riley has helped train hundreds of counselors, says Dan Fichter, head of AI and engineering at the Trevor Project; Fichter envisions a future where AI personas help people “learn to be even better at what they’re doing.” —Guadalupe Gonzalez
- The Real Reason Florida Wants to Ban AP African-American Studies, According to an Architect of the Course
- Column: Tyre Nichols' Killing Is The Result of a Diseased Culture
- Without Evusheld, Immunocompromised People Are on Their Own Against COVID-19
- Here Are All the Movies and TV Shows That Make Up the New DCU
- TikTok's 'De-Influencing' Trend Is Here to Tell You What Stuff You Don't Need to Buy
- Column: America Goes About Juvenile Crime Sentencing All Wrong
- Why Your Tax Refund May Be Lower This Year
- Brazil Wants to Abandon a 34,000-Ton Ship at Sea. It Would be an Environmental Disaster
- The 5 Best New TV Shows Our Critic Watched in January 2023