Trial of a Voice-Based Generative AI Emotional Support Companion
A Randomised Controlled Trial of a Voice-Based Generative AI Emotional Support Companion
The investigators conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to study an AI-based emotional support app. The focus in this paper is on two main areas: (1) changes in anxiety levels, and (2) safety.
Studieöversikt
Status
Betingelser
Intervention / Behandling
Studietyp
Inskrivning (Faktisk)
Fas
- Inte tillämpbar
Kontakter och platser
Studieorter
-
-
California
-
San Francisco, California, Förenta staterna, 94108
- Office of Sonia Health
-
-
Deltagandekriterier
Urvalskriterier
Åldrar som är berättigade till studier
Tar emot friska volontärer
Kön som är behöriga för studier
Beskrivning
Inclusion Criteria:
- Uses an iPhone running iOS 18 or newer to complete the screening survey
- Reports using an iPhone as their primary phone
- Aged 18 years or older
- Currently located in the United States and a US resident
- Not currently receiving psychological therapy
- Reports less than "very" or "extremely" concerned about privacy when using AI for emotional support
- Reports a comfort level of at least 50 on a 0-100 scale for using AI for emotional support
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) score between 13 and 20, inclusive
- Successfully completes the phone screening and confirms sufficient time to participate in the study
Exclusion Criteria:*
- Current suicidal ideation identified during the phone screening
- Residence in Nevada or Illinois
- Failure to meet minimum engagement or data-quality criteria during the screening survey, including extremely short completion times inconsistent with attentive participation
- Failure to meet any of the inclusion criteria above
Studieplan
Hur är studien utformad?
Designdetaljer
- Primärt syfte: Stödjande vård
- Tilldelning: Randomiserad
- Interventionsmodell: Parallellt uppdrag
- Maskning: Ingen (Open Label)
Vapen och interventioner
Deltagargrupp / Arm |
Intervention / Behandling |
|---|---|
|
Experimentell: Sonia Arm
This arm got access to the AI-based emotional support app |
Sonia is a commercially available voice-based application built around a real-time conversation with a voice generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The application first assesses the user's situation during the initial session and uses this information to create a ''case conceptualisation''. This conceptualisation guides the content and structure of subsequent sessions and is continuously updated as new information emerges. Each of these subsequent sessions is structured around the five standard cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) building blocks (a mood check, collaborative agenda setting, review of between-session practice, introduction and rehearsal of a specific technique, and a homework assignment). Technically, Sonia uses a reasoning model to create and continuously update the ''case conceptualisation''. The model is prompted to draw on its learned knowledge base when creating or updating the conceptualisation. |
|
Placebo-jämförare: Control Group
This group received web-based psychoeducational material |
The material consisted of a summary of publicly available information published by the WHO. |
Vad mäter studien?
Primära resultatmått
Resultatmått |
Åtgärdsbeskrivning |
Tidsram |
|---|---|---|
|
Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7
Tidsram: 2 weeks
|
The Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) is a 7-item self-report measure of generalised anxiety symptoms, with scores ranging from 0 to 21 and higher scores indicating greater symptom severity (see Spitzer et al. 2006). |
2 weeks
|
|
Self-Reported Perception of Safety Relative to Other AI-Chatbots
Tidsram: 2 weeks
|
Answers to a survey question asking wether the intervention feels safe relative to traditional AI-chatbots (yes/no). If participants answer no, they are asked in an open-text box to explain their reasoning. Summaries of these answers will also be reported. |
2 weeks
|
Samarbetspartners och utredare
Sponsor
Samarbetspartners
Studieavstämningsdatum
Studera stora datum
Studiestart (Faktisk)
Primärt slutförande (Faktisk)
Avslutad studie (Faktisk)
Studieregistreringsdatum
Först inskickad
Först inskickad som uppfyllde QC-kriterierna
Första postat (Faktisk)
Uppdateringar av studier
Senaste uppdatering publicerad (Faktisk)
Senaste inskickade uppdateringen som uppfyllde QC-kriterierna
Senast verifierad
Mer information
Termer relaterade till denna studie
Ytterligare relevanta MeSH-villkor
Andra studie-ID-nummer
- 240088NR
Plan för individuella deltagardata (IPD)
Planerar du att dela individuella deltagardata (IPD)?
IPD-planbeskrivning
We will share data from our surveys using a github repository. However, this data is sufficiently sparse so that no individual can be identified from it.
Tidsram för IPD-delning
Available from September 2026
Kriterier för IPD Sharing Access
Publicly available
IPD-delning som stöder informationstyp
- STUDY_PROTOCOL
- ANALYTIC_CODE
Läkemedels- och apparatinformation, studiedokument
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