ITherapy

From WRTwiki

It's time for the latest in computer theraphists: T.A.R.A.. She's an ALICE-bot with big therapy aspirations, produced by Isadera Corp (aka Tom Nardone).

Christy: I think this relates to Buddhabot (the need to talk about spirituality etc) and the newly discovered God.

Of course, chatbot therapists are as old as chatbots. ELIZA and its heirs have always had a bit of electronic helper mixed with imaginary friend. Currently there are several therapy bots online including:

Some thoughts.

1. Here is someone who takes the ELIZA effect seriously:

http://www.itherapy.com/free-therapy-help.html http://www.itherapy.com/free-therapy-info.html http://www.itherapy.com/tara-chatbot.html

2. There is a bizarre tension between the Isdera business model / press release language, on the one hand, and their method, on the other.

Business theory: real people are too embarassing / public, so talk to a bot instead about personal issues.

Business method: bots need to be trained, so all conversations are logged and then reviewed by the company in order to train the bot. In other words, real people will store read, evaluate, and manipulate your personal issues text. See the privacy policy:

http://www.itherapy.com/private-therapist.html

So Isdera's definition of "privacy" there is an unusual one, at least compared to what is normal on the internet (privacy = low information collection). But it might be fruitfully compared to PostSecret...?

Furthermore, Tara does not work when a Norton Firewall is running on Windows XP. So drop your defenses when you chat. Make yourself vulnerable.

3. The openning image, shows a woman in white, sitting next to her dog, trying typing into her laptop. She apparently is so attached to her dog, she cannot let go long enough to type. She also is afraid of footware. Here is the computer as companion model that we are seeing taken up in <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-12-2004_pg9_3">Japan</a>.

4. Although the site claims:

In the most realistic manner possible, iTherapy.com is trying to point out the benefit of receiving therapy

The suggestion is that T.A.R.A. and T.A.R.A.-like chatbots could replace or stand in for therapists, and of course, they have (as documented by Sherry Turkle in Life on the Screen.)

5. Tara reads as like a doe-0eyed, female, with very large lips. Her hair seems unmovable, perfectly placed. Her gaze does not waiver. All of these choices that seem designed to make someone feel comfortable, seem, as always disquieting.

6. Most of the standard ALICE replies are still in place. (relates to our previous conversation about keeping ALICE the same).