Koko started as a clinical trial at MIT. We have since published multiple papers in the fields of clinical and social psychology, human-computer interaction, and machine learning. Some representative publications are summarized below.
2023
We discuss the recent advances from AI, such as supporting humans to provide better interventions, understanding processes in clinical interventions, and providing ethical considerations for the use of generative AI in clinical research and practice.
Citation: Schueller, S. M., & Morris, R. R. (2023). Clinical science and practice in the age of large language models and generative artificial intelligence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 91(10), 559.
DECEMBER 2022
How might we increase the effectiveness of online crisis referrals? We compared our referral system with a standard link to 988/Lifelines and found significant reductions in hopelessness. People who received our referral were more than twice as likely to report using the resources provided.
JUNE 2022
We embedded single-session interventions directly into online social networks, allowing us to reach users where they are. We found significant pre-post improvements in hopelessness, self-hatred, and motivation to stop self-harming. (In press, JMIR - Formative)
JANUARY 2019
We developed methods to increase utilization of crisis resources such as The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In a randomized controlled trial with Harvard, we showed our methods increased conversion rates by 23%.
OCTOBER 2018
Koko has millions of posts and responses from its peer support network. We analyzed linguistic patterns that predicted favorable outcomes.
JUNE 2018
We created an artificially empathic chatbot using Koko data. We find that, while we can simulate empathic expression to a degree, there may be an upper bound machines can never cross. Unlike humans, they don't have lived experiences and so their efforts to empathize might always ring hollow.
MAY 2017
Most people looking to get help on Koko go on to help multiple other people. We make it simple and easy. We also find that helping others on Koko has a significant effect on mood regulation and depression symptoms.
MARCH 2015
We randomly assigned people to use Koko (then called 'Panoply') or a matched control task (expressive writing). We found improvements for both, but the differences were significantly greater for the Koko platform across all outcome measures.
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