AI and the World's Hard Problems · Medicine & drug discovery · MIT · 2026-09-24
Estimating suicide risk from text
Identifying people at high risk of suicide is a priority for counselors during mental health crises. Researchers at MIT's McGovern Institute developed a language-processing tool that searches text for words and phrases linked to 49 suicide risk factors to estimate an individual's risk. In text conversations with crisis counselors, the tool accurately predicted suicide risk, and with more validation it could support risk assessment in clinical and crisis-support settings.