Abstract

The accelerated uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare has revolutionized mental health service provision by providing affordable and scalable interventions for diverse populations. In adults, AI-based mental health interventions, including chatbots, diagnostic apps, and mood tracking systems, are becoming common tools for emotional support. Although such interventions have the potential for self-management and convenience, they also pose important ethical, emotional, and practical issues. The research examines adult users' experiences and attitudes towards AI-driven mental health technologies regarding both advantages and ethical constraints. The research aimed to explore how adults interact with AI in mental health scenarios, what they consider to be useful, and what issues arise when using it. The overall research questions were concerned with perceived efficacy, affective limitations, and ethical issues, including data protection, trust, and the necessity for human-AI balance. A qualitative study design was utilized, involving semi-structured interviews with 18 adult participants between 21 and 52 years old with experience in AI mental health tool usage. Data were analyzed thematically, and five major themes emerged: perceived usefulness and accessibility, emotional limitations of AI, ethical issues, need for human-AI balance, and suggestions for improvement. Convenience of use, emotional check ins, insufficient empathy, data privacy, and cultural fit were sub-themes. Findings show that although AI tools provide instant, stigma-free emotional support, participants complained of superficial answers, insensitivity, and ambiguous data practices. Participants decidedly preferred a hybrid approach where AI assists, but does not substitute, professional human care.In summary, AI has great promise for adult mental health care but needs to be ethically developed, open, and culturally sensitive in order to be really beneficial. Human control and crisis-response incorporation must be the focus of future development.