Exclusive: Buzzy mental health startup Slingshot AI just grabbed $30 million from A16z
Summary
More and more people are seeking out mental healthcare, exacerbating existing therapist shortages and leaving desperate patients on long waitlists. Based in New York City and London, Slingshot launched in May with its first model an AI counselor that users can talk to and get advice from as they would a human therapist. The app also purports to remember its patients past conversations to help users work through problems over time and reach their goals. The National Eating Disorder Associations AI chatbot was taken down last year after the bot gave some users harmful advice, like suggesting that patients significantly cut their caloric intake. Plenty of people have also started using general-purpose generative AI models like OpenAIs ChatGPT to supplement their mental health needs, with mixed results.