Plenary Session for Crown Students: Chatbots on the Couch: AI, Mental Health, and the Ethics of Digital Empathy

Location: Merrill/Crown Auditorium
Event Type: Panel Discussion / Plenary Session
Sponsor: Crown College
Open to: UCSC Students, Faculty, and Staff

Event Description:

As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes mental healthcare—from chatbots offering therapeutic support to algorithms detecting early signs of distress—we face urgent ethical questions about trust, privacy, bias, and the future of human connection in care.

Join us for a compelling panel discussion featuring three distinguished experts who will explore the promises and perils of AI in mental health:

Panelists:

Dr. Lisa A. Berkley – Director of Crown Resiliency Program and Founder Executive Director of the Center for Applied Values & Ethics in Advancing Technology (CAVEAT) at UCSC; Founder and President of the Institute for Inner Economy

Alka Roy – Technology and product leader with deep expertise in Machine Learning/AI, privacy, and trust frameworks. Ms. Roy founded the Responsible Innovation Project, serves on multiple open-source Responsible and Trusted AI committees, and holds multiple patents for policy and security frameworks. She has received national recognition as a Rising Star and National Women of Color in Technology honoree. With degrees in both Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and an MFA in Creative Writing, Ms. Roy brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to questions of technology ethics and innovation.

Linda MacDonald Glenn, JD, LLM, Faculty at Crown College and co-founder of the Center for Applied Values and Ethics in Advancing Technologies (CAVEAT.UCSC.EDU)

What We’ll Explore:

• When does AI complement human care, and when does it replace it dangerously?
• How do we address algorithmic bias in mental health interventions?
• What ethical guardrails are needed when bots mimic empathy?
• Who is accountable when AI-driven mental health tools cause harm?

This panel brings together perspectives from bioethics, clinical practice, student well-being, and technology leadership to examine the real-world ethical challenges of AI deployment in mental healthcare—a topic of profound relevance given recent concerns about chatbot safety, algorithmic bias, and the commercialization of mental health technologies.

This event connects directly to critical questions about responsibility, justice, and the sociopolitical implications of emerging technologies. Come prepared to think critically about innovation that claims to heal—and to question whose interests are truly being served.

Admission: Free and open to the UCSC community