Mental Health & AI Chatbots: From Silos to Safeguards
Mila
In-Person
Many AI chatbots are designed to simulate care, empathy, and companionship, and as such, have begun to take on increasingly significant emotional and social roles in peoples’ lives, including and especially young users. Because of this, and a growing body of research on the mental health impacts of sustained and dependent chatbot use, their unregulated deployment has started to raise concern amongst educators, clinicians, and youth themselves.
Co-organized by the Mila AI Safety Studio and the Mila AI Policy Fellowship, this event brings together cross-cutting expertise from technology, mental health, education, and public policy to address the risks posed by AI chatbots as an interconnected challenge. As a pre-conference event for Mila’s inaugural AI Policy Conference, The AI Policy Frontline: Driving Evidence-Based Solutions, the conversation focuses on how AI safety, youth wellbeing, and governance converge: how design choices shape psychological outcomes, how educational and clinical insights can inform technical safeguards, and how working interdisciplinarily to address these issues can inform proactive and meaningful policy response.
The event will feature three expert presentations spanning four interconnected pillars: technology, mental health, education, and policy. It will be followed by a moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A to create space for dialogue across sectors and disciplines.
Attendees will leave with:
- a clearer understanding of the emerging mental health risks associated with AI chatbots and digital companions;
- insight into how design choices, safety guardrails, and educational interventions intersect;
- and a shared vocabulary to discuss AI, empathy, and youth digital rights across disciplines.
Agenda
9:30 am Opening Remarks - Isadora Hellegren
9:45 am Part I: Raising Awareness
9:45 am The Context: AI Chatbots & Risks to Mental Health - Presentation by Étienne Brisson
10:00 am The Technology: Technical Approaches to Chatbot Safety - Presentation by Simona Gandrabur
10:15 am The Governance: Legislation, Policy, and Education for AI Safety - Presentation by Helen Hayes and Fergus Linley-Mota
10:30 am Part II: Building Bridges
10:30 am Panel Discussion: Youth Engagement in Policy Development
11:00 am Audience Q&A
11:15 am Panel Discussion: Safeguards for Mental Health
11:45 am Audience Q&A
12:00 pm Adjournment
Speakers, Panelists and Moderators
Isadora Hellegren-Létourneau, Senior AI Policy Research Manager, Mila
Simona Gandrabur, Head, Mila AI Safety Studio
Etienne Brisson, Founder, The Humanline Project
Helen Hayes, Associate Director (Policy), The Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy
Fergus Linley-Mota, Founder and Director, Dialogue on Technology Project
Nonso Morah, 2025-2026 Youth Fellow, The Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy
Dr Guillaume Dumas, McGill University, Université de Montréal, Mila, CHU Ste-Justine
Dr Vera Bekes, , McGill University, McGill University
Dr Vincent Dumouchel, Managing Parner, Vetted Medical