Public Perception and Acceptance of AI-based Mental Health Assessment Tools

Abstract

A survey consisting of 18 questions that lasted for 3 days from 10th May 2024 to 13th May 2024 was conducted to the public across Indonesian. In order to find out about public perception and acceptance of AI-based mental health assessment tools. One hundred and thirty participants responded to the survey, however only 107 of them passed the data quality check. from the 107 respondents, 61.7 % of them are males, and 38.3% of them are females, and 88% of the respondents are in the age range of 18-29 with the last level of education around high school and undergraduate. Using the score of 1-5, Most were familiar with AI, but over two-thirds hadn't used AI in mental health. They weakly believed in AI effectiveness (mean score: 3.08) and doubted it could match traditional methods (mean score: 2.88). Nearly 80% saw AI as helpful for early detection and intervention; 54.2% found current AI credible. Comfort with AI tools was moderate (score: 3.12), but confidence in AI vs. professional assessments was low (score: 2.78). Trust in AI tools is expected to grow in 10 years, with nearly 80% expecting widespread use and higher comfort (score: 3.64). AI is seen as beneficial for increasing mental health service use (score: 3.77) and improving access for underserved populations (70.1%). Privacy and security concerns were high (72.9%). Overall, the public sees AI-based mental health tools positively but still prefers human experts. The level of trust is expected to grow as technology progresses. Privacy concerns need addressing, but overall, acceptance is high.