New York-based AI mental health startup Slingshot AI has reportedly secured $30 million in seed funding to increase global access to AI-driven mental healthcare.
Co-founded in 2022 by Daniel Cahn, and Neil Parikh MD, the company developed a large language model called Ash, which can understand nuances of human psychology and offer mental support to patients. The company partners with mental health providers to support patients across the globe.
The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent venture capital investing in businesses globally, with a fast-follow round led by Menlo Ventures, as reported by Business Insider. The financing round also included participation from Felicis Ventures, Gokul Rajaram, BoxGroup, Jerry Murdock, Sumeet Gajri, Bryan Baum, Arjun Sethi, Liu Jiang, Mike Stoppelman, and Cory Levy.
Slingshot AI Shifting Approach to Mental Health
Emerging AI tools and mental health chatbots are poised to become part of behavioral health inevitably, with experts predicting that generative AI tools and other tools leveraging natural language models will play a significant role in out-of-care support and preventive care.
However, critics of these tools doubt the effectiveness of such tools in addressing serious behavioral issues that occur when patients are away from clinicians as well as the security of users’ data. Despite these concerns, a recent study revealed that 29% of Americans trust AI chatbots for health information.
As the world continues to transition to the era of artificial intelligence, with more data protection measures being implemented, this reality is likely to change, with many people using AI chatbots to seek answers to their mental health queries.