Carolyn Rodriguez

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Stanford University School of Medicine. She co-directs Stanford AI4MH and leads the Stanford OCD Research Lab, where her work focuses on severe mental illness, OCD, hoarding disorder, rapid-acting therapeutics, and responsible AI applications in mental health.

Responsible Mental Health AI Depends on Measurement, Co-Design, and Trust

At Stanford’s 2026 AI for Mental Health Symposium, Carolyn Rodriguez, Ehsan Adeli, Brandon Staglin and Vaile Wright argued that the urgent question is no longer whether people will use AI for mental health, but whether the field can make that use safe, clinically meaningful and trustworthy. The panel’s case was that responsible deployment will require measurable standards for quality and harm, early involvement from clinicians and people with lived experience, regulatory and payment systems that support trust, and designs that strengthen rather than replace human relationships.

Stanford HAIJun 8, 202619 min read