Public sentiment analysis and topic modeling regarding ChatGPT in mental health on Reddit: Negative sentiments increase over time

Abstract

In order to uncover users' attitudes towards ChatGPT in mental health, this study examines public opinions about ChatGPT in mental health discussions on Reddit. Researchers used the bert-base-multilingual-uncased-sentiment techniques for sentiment analysis and the BERTopic model for topic modeling. It was found that overall, negative sentiments prevail, followed by positive ones, with neutral sentiments being the least common. The prevalence of negative emotions has increased over time. Negative emotions encompass discussions on ChatGPT providing bad mental health advice, debates on machine vs. human value, the fear of AI, and concerns about Universal Basic Income (UBI). In contrast, positive emotions highlight ChatGPT's effectiveness in counseling, with mentions of keywords like "time" and "wallet." Neutral discussions center around private data concerns. These findings shed light on public attitudes toward ChatGPT in mental health, potentially contributing to the development of trustworthy AI in mental health from the public perspective.