Two-thirds of those who commit suicide struggle with depression. Since the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020, the reported rate of anxiety and depression symptoms has increased by 11% in the United States. (American Association of Suicidology). As a significant public health issue and growing societal concern, providing preemptive and equitable care is imperative when addressing mental health solutions.

With a mission to make mental health support more accessible, X2 AI and The Chopra Foundation forged a partnership to build Piwi, an on-demand mental health chatbot. Created with a team of trained advisors and clinical content creators, Piwi offers professional psychological interventions and connects those in crisis directly with a network of on-call counselors. In collaboration with The Chopra Foundation, Piwi delivers video and audio content centering around topics such as sleep, healing, and COVID-related anxiety.

Since Piwi launched in August of 2020, over 89,000 people have started chatting and received support. While chatting, 3,522 individuals reported suicidal ideation and these instances were de-escalated by both Piwi and the network of on-call crisis counselors.

“What is so interesting is people are more comfortable talking to a machine than to a human being.” Deepak Chopra says. “But that is still to our advantage because our bot can identify mental challenges and refer you to a counsellor.”

When chatting with Piwi over the course of several weeks, 95% of people reported that the severity of their depressive symptoms decreased. The symptom reduction of this magnitude is equal to the expected benefits of 1 to 15 in-person therapy sessions, totaling to $95,927,000 in costs. Through 24/7 expert support, Piwi provides equitable care that is both reliable and scalable, servicing a larger population at no cost and providing mental health resources that may have been otherwise inaccessible.

Here are some things people chatting with Piwi have to say about their conversations:

• "I think this is a great way for people to express themselves, especially those with anxiety disorders and people that are skeptical about seeking therapy the old fashioned way."
• "I have never been able to talk to someone about my problems. Today I tried and learned about ways I can feel better and make my problems more manageable.
• "I have learned to deal with obstacles and also how to set achievable goals."

By partnering with The Chopra Foundation, X2 AI has been able to make mental health support and access to crisis counselors more accessible to thousands of people during the global pandemic and into the future.