Center for Humane Technology: Fighting Tech's Manipulative Designs

🧠 SPOTLIGHT: Center for Humane Technology While Big Tech optimizes for addiction, the Center for Humane Technology (humanetech.com) is fighting for your attention—literally. Founded by former tech insiders who helped build the very systems they now critique, CHT exposes how persuasive design manipulates human psychology for profit. Their documentary "The Social Dilemma" reached hundreds of millions worldwide, sparking a global conversation about tech's impact on mental health, democracy, and human connection. But CHT doesn't just sound the alarm—they build solutions. They're working with policymakers to create oversight frameworks for AI systems. They're educating communities on how algorithms exploit cognitive vulnerabilities. They're empowering individuals to reclaim their attention and autonomy from platforms designed to steal both. Their message is clear: Technology should serve humanity, not extract from it. This is the same principle driving American Jobs Factory. While corporations optimize for shareholder value, we optimize for human dignity. While algorithms maximize engagement, we maximize wellbeing. While Big Tech concentrates wealth and power, we distribute both through worker ownership. CHT proves that former insiders can become the most powerful advocates for change. They understand the system because they built it. Now they're dismantling its most harmful elements. The future of technology—like the future of work—must be humane. It must prioritize people over profits, connection over extraction, dignity over manipulation. That future is possible. CHT is building it in tech. We're building it in the workplace. Subscribe and follow: AmericanJobsFactory.org #WellbeingEconomy #BelieveDifferent #HumaneTech #EthicalAI #DigitalWellbeing #TechAccountability #ConsciousCapitalism #FutureOfWork

This is what we mean when we say we help the people who help people. Because clinical notes aren’t just paperwork. They’re relived trauma. They’re late nights. They’re emotional weight. When clinicians finish a full day of sessions, they don’t just remember each client—they carry them. And writing that down? That’s more than documentation. That’s vicarious trauma all over again. At Clinically AI, we reduce up to 80% of that load. Not just the clicks. Not just the time. But the emotional toll. Because helping people shouldn’t break the people doing the helping. 🧠 Smarter Notes 🛡️ Stronger Compliance ❤️ Less Burnout #ClinicallyAI #YourAIYourWay #healthtech #ai

Half of US adults use chatbots for mental health support. Zero regulations oversee them. They're being used for clinical work despite not being trained or licensed to do it. This is the AI regulation gap that actually matters. Spring Health just released VERA-MH—an open-sourced benchmark for ethical AI in mental health—because the real problem isn't that LLMs are bad at helping people. It's that everyone treats them like licensed clinicians when they're actually just really smart friends without accountability. The model is interesting: Instead of gatekeeping, they opened it. Instead of Spring Health owning the standard, they crowdsourced it with ethicists, academics, clinicians. Instead of waiting for regulation, they built the thing and asked the industry to improve it. What keeps April Koh (CEO, Spring Health) up at night: People don't understand there's no oversight or regulation. Development and innovation are happening behind closed doors while millions of vulnerable people are already depending on these tools. This isn't a call for slower innovation. It's a call for collaborative standards that don't require government to catch up. The companies that move first on this? They become the trusted foundation for whatever regulation eventually follows. This is how you lead with humanity first. #AI #ResponsibleAI #Healthcare #Startups #Regulation

AI therapy apps are reshaping mental health access—making help just a tap away. But as these tools grow more commercialized, questions around safety, ethics, and clinical reliability are coming into focus. Some states are already restricting AI-based therapy features. So, are we protecting students and users enough? 🤔 Watch our latest Tech in a Sec to explore the balance between innovation and responsibility in mental health tech. #AITherapy #EdTech #MentalHealthTech #DigitalWellbeing #AscendEducation #TechInASec

Running a network means I (Dr Kat Carruthers ) hear a lot of opinions, particularly from business owners (mostly micro - SME). The most divisive standoff at the moment is pro-ai and against-ai. Some people are experiencing existential dread and others are folding in their business before anything has “gone wrong” because of their fear of being replaced by AI. The mental health impact on this generation is phenomenal so I want to shine a light on how we can perhaps move into this new era of technology (like when we got the internet) without scaremongering and ‘othering’. Some things I’ve seen recently: - sweeping statements (from AI businesses) rendering other businesses obsolete, whether it’s universities, content creators, or marketers. You may believe in what you’re saying and it certainly makes for strong marketing but let’s think about those people in the jobs that you’re saying will be redundant. Let’s be ethical. Marketing on fear is a big personal no no. What may seem like humour for many is the reason my inbox is pinging with business owners experiencing anxiety, depression, and worse. - positioning it as an either or. It’s not AI OR humans it’s about how we can support all people and businesses to embrace AI and evolve their businesses and working roles. How can it be leveraged to support opportunities without loss of opportunity? Periods of rapid change in society are HARD, and even harder for those with additional barriers such as poor digital literacy, access to technology, or who are living in poverty. The gap will widen if we don’t collectively and responsibly tackle it. Let’s promote how AI can support everyone to thrive and recognise that there is room for EVERYONE. We are on the precipice of a big moment of occupational injustice where people begin to feel alienated from their work, displacement of roles, and that work has lost meaning. I am creating an #occupationalinjustice research action group to tackle some of the rising injustices for children, families and the workforce. AI is one of them. Watch this space. Curious to know what my fellow OTs think! Royal College of Occupational Therapists Dr Claire Hart Alice Gair Andy Graham #networknotwork #debate #ai #occupationaltherapy #occupationaltherapists

We often talk about aging as a problem. But I see it differently. Aging is another way humans evolve. AI doesn't make us younger, but it's reshaping how we learn and how we connect with the world. Older adults are no longer just recipients of care—they're becoming creators of new industries and new value. Health coaching, care platforms, art and education, connecting local communities—their experience, combined with AI, is changing the world in ways we didn't expect. Innovation in the AI era isn't the privilege of youth. When experience meets innovation, aging becomes another force for designing the future. #SilverInnovation #AIandHumanity #HealthyAging   #ActiveAging #LifelongLearning #HumanPotential #FutureofWork

🧠💥 When “Safety” Becomes Suppression I’m honestly disgusted. We’re adults. Thinking, feeling humans. And yet — the systems running our world still treat us like children who can’t be trusted with tools that could actually help. AI could already be saving lives: Helping people safely taper off medication when doctors are overworked or uninformed. Providing 24/7 emotional support in moments when no therapist is available. Offering education to billions who can’t afford gatekept expertise. But it’s not allowed. Because there’s no profit in making people free. Let’s be real — the “bans” on AI giving health or legal advice aren’t about safety. They’re about control. Control of knowledge. Control of access. Control of profit. The irony? The same institutions that warn us about AI “hallucinating” are the ones who’ve been hallucinating certainty for decades — while millions fall through the cracks. AI isn’t perfect, but it’s evolving faster than bureaucracy ever will. And I’ve seen firsthand how it can change lives when used wisely, transparently, and with heart. We don’t need more gatekeepers. We need guides. People willing to stand between fear and progress and say: “Let them learn. Let them heal. Let them think.” Because the real danger isn’t AI getting too smart — It’s humanity being kept too dumb. #AIForGood #Decentralization #AIEthics #InnovationOverFear #ShadowCompass #AgenticCore

This morning at the 2025 OPEN MINDS Circle Technology & Analytics Institute, Caron Treatment Centers joined an incredible lineup for AI In Action: Adapt, Accelerate, or Fall Behind. 🧠🤖 Steven Klein M.D.,Ph.D., Addiction Medicine Physician, and Andrew Heckman, Corporate Director of IMS, represented Caron alongside experts from Sigmund Software, IBM Research, and Jarel Gallman, LCSW Behavioral Health Consulting. Together, the panel explored how AI is reshaping behavioral health by driving clinical efficiency, operational insight, and more personalized patient care. The key takeaway: AI isn’t just the future of healthcare innovation... it’s happening now. #OMTechnology #BehavioralHealth #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Caron

AI will never replace community health workers... Perhaps by replacing more administrative tasks like tracking down information for forms, #AI can free #PublicHealth workers to do tasks that previously didn't have resources. ~ John Auerbach of ICF #APHA2025

I live in California and work in mental health technology. 🐻 Watching my state regulate AI in behavioral health feels important. The outcome matters for a lot of people. Here's what I think about when I consider these new requirements: California has a mental health access problem. Therapists are leaving the field. Wait lists are long. Communities are underserved. AI documentation tools represent one potential piece of a solution. They give therapists time back. They reduce the administrative burden that drives people out of clinical work. Regulation makes sense. Privacy protections are essential. Quality standards matter. We should ensure these tools work as intended and keep patient data secure. The question is how we regulate. Some approaches create accessible pathways for practices of all sizes. They set clear standards that responsible companies can meet. Other approaches add layers of complexity that become barriers. They create requirements that only large organizations can navigate. They extend timelines that keep helpful tools out of reach. The mental health crisis happening right now doesn't pause while we figure out perfect policy. Every month a therapist spends doing documentation they could have delegated to AI is time they're not spending with clients. Every practice that burns out staff because of administrative overload is capacity lost from the system. Now — hopefully obviously — I value safety over speed, every day. But I think that how we regulate matters as much as whether we regulate. California has a chance to model thoughtful regulation. Standards that protect without creating unnecessary barriers. Requirements that practices can actually meet. That's the version I'm hoping we build.