Artificial Psychologist: An intelligent virtual/robotic assistant based on a cognitive modeling framework

Abstract

Applications of socially emotional artificial intelligence are demanded in many practical areas, including psychological counselling and psychotherapy. A person who is potentially in trouble and needs help has to overcome an internal barrier before deciding to see a psychiatrist. On the other hand, obtaining an anonymous online consultation or taking an online test is psychologically easy and acceptable for the many. At the same time, state-of-the-art solutions of this sort are limited. Here a concept of an intelligent system is proposed that should help to alleviate the problem. The system can be implemented as an embodied actor based on a virtual environment, VR/XR, or a robotic platform with social-emotional capabilities. The actor is controlled by a cognitive architecture with a possibility of its replacement by a deep neural network model. Interaction with the user is based on a multimodal human-computer interface. Possibilities that will be provided by this virtual psychologist system will enable conducting an initial screening, the results of which can later be used at the next session with a specialist, if chosen by the user. The key issue of ethics, privacy and anonymity is discussed. Systems of this sort could be used beyond psychological counseling and are expected to have an impact on the healthcare system in general.