Instead of asking, “Is AI going to replace my job?” we’re focused on “How should we work with AI for the benefit of patients?”
July 7, 2026
Reposted from Huntsman Mental Health Institute's 2025 annual report. Featuring work and insights from Nina de Lacy, a psychiatrist and One-U Responsible AI Initiative faculty fellow.
A new tool for a system under pressure
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere right now: in headlines, on home screens, and at the center of high-stakes policy debates. At Huntsman Mental Health Institute, it’s something more—a tool with potential to help us meet some of the biggest gaps in mental health care. That belief is echoed at the highest levels of the University of Utah, where President Taylor Randall has named Responsible Artificial Intelligence one of his three presidential priorities as part of the Impact 2030 strategy.
At our institute, we’re approaching this moment with a balance of care and urgency. That means building tools that extend the reach of human care, collaborating across disciplines and state agencies, and asking the right questions now. As the technology evolves, we’ll be ready to use it with the intention and integrity that mental health care requires.
A system at capacity
The demand for mental health care is growing faster than the system can keep up. Across the US, millions of people wait too long for treatment—and in rural or underserved areas, access to care can feel out of reach entirely.
“We don’t need AI to treat schizophrenia. We need AI to help us care for the 20% of the population with mild-to-moderate anxiety and depression and do more of our paperwork, so that our skilled human providers are freed up to spend more quality time with more complex patients and see them sooner.”
—Nina de Lacy, MD, MBA Psychiatrist and Mental Health AI Researcher