On Tuesday, Brown’s School of Professional Studies hosted a virtual event featuring Judson Brewer, the director of research and innovation at the University’s mindfulness center, as part of their Evolution of Mindfulness Speaker Series.
Facilitated by Associate Director of Non-Degree Programs Frances Saadeh ’06 MPH’11 and Director of the Mindfulness Center Eric Loucks, Brewer detailed his research combining ancient mindfulness practices with modern technology — including artificial intelligence — to address mental health challenges.
Brewer has developed multiple mobile applications — Unwinding Anxiety, Eat Right Now and Craving to Quit — to help support patients who deal with addiction disorders.
The event — which reached over 600 virtual attendees — began with a poll asking audience members if they thought that AI could “ever play a meaningful role in supporting mindfulness practices.” A majority of participants answered “possibly.”
Brewer got involved in the field of mindfulness while learning to manage his mental health struggles as a medical student, he explained to The Herald. As he journeyed deeper into the field, his peers questioned his focus on mindfulness.
“I would rather do something I’m passionate about” than choose a field that was more traditional but less interesting to him, Brewer said.
Brewer’s apps feature therapeutic assistants — bots that have specialized conversations with patients — and teaching assistants, which quiz and provide educational resources to users on content related to the app’s purpose, he explained.
Brewer explained that keeping track of clients’ conversations with bots allows him to correlate certain points in the digital conversation to the real-life outcomes of the clients themselves. One of Brewer’s clients said the bot had “helped (him) feel more deeply.”
These digital therapeutic agents, acting as AI assistants-turned-therapists, have ethical guardrails placed upon them as well, Brewer explained. The chat agents go through a multi-screening process, where they’re screened by another bot. If anything is flagged during the screen, the content is then subject to human review.
“It’s a whole different ball game now,” Brewer said, referring to today’s era of digital modernization. He hopes to make his technology “more personal,” and, in turn, reach a larger audience.
At the end of the seminar, Brewer participated in a Q&A session, facilitated by Loucks. When asked how he balances both science and contemplative practices, Brewer explained that his research applies and rediscovers what Buddhist psychologists discovered hundreds of years ago.
“Jud is one of the most innovative researchers I know,” Loucks wrote in an email to The Herald. “He asks important questions with real clinical impact, and for those reasons we thought he would be an excellent speaker.”
“Mindfulness is humanity’s only hope,” he added. “Learning how to work with our minds will help us see how rewarding it is to be connected.”