Ethical AI for Mental Health Contexts: A Focus on Conservative Communities and Annie the Chatbot

The purpose of this paper is to examine ethical protocols in the development of ‘Annie’: a therapeutic chatbot for supporting anxiety and depression in conservative communities. Annie the chatbot is culturally aware and religiously sensitive, and has two pathways – a practitioner facing functionality and a patient facing functionality. A key element in the development of Annie the chatbot is a thorough ethical framework to ensure the safety of patients and practitioners, and wider organisations and stakeholders, within the specific context of the conservative communities it is aimed at. Initial consultations and workshops with mental health experts from Qatar and Saudi Arabia support the design elements of Annie the chatbot, and research is ongoing to ensure its ethical design principles. This paper considers some of the key aspects of responsible and ethical AI for mental health contexts.