Flagship trained iris on its own — the chatbot isn’t just a program running on top of ChatGPT or Claude. The company’s first hire was a psychologist, to establish a framework and train the AI for healthy conversation. It’s the first time in Flagship’s history the initial hire wasn’t a scientist, Mkrtchyan said.
The app is not aimed at therapy, treating mental health conditions, or replacing the role of a psychologist, Mkrtchyan stressed; rather, think life coach. Iris aims to be a “thought partner” that can help users prepare for important conversations or clarify priorities.
Iris gave a Globe reporter access to the subscription chatbot, which is accessed in the Messages app on an iPhone or using RCS on an Android phone and costs $25 per month, at least for now, the company said. The app is open to anyone via a waitlist on the iris web site. Iris encrypts user data and pledges not to sell or share sensitive personal information with third parties.
In a conversation about fears of losing an aging golden retriever, the chatbot cautiously probed the reporter’s feelings and offered supportive statements such as “you’re carrying a very human mix of grief and anxiety alongside a quiet accepting sense that this is the natural arc of life.” It also suggested books to read on the subject of mortality and offered a daily appreciation exercise to perform while walking the dog (whose name is Luna).
Other early users have chatted with iris about relationship conflicts, workplace issues, and burnout, Mkrtchyan said, adding he uses the chatbot to keep a personal journal. Having a thought partner there ”anytime you need it, but also not trying to pull you into always talking to it is is just somewhat liberating,” he said.
To help ensure iris provides healthy advice, Mkrtchyan said, the chatbot had to be designed to reject one of the most common strategies built into AI and social media apps: encouraging engagement. Not only has iris rejected the “endless scroll” of apps like Instagram and TikTok, but it will actively advise users to log off. It’s also designed to avoid the sycophantic responses common in other chatbots.
Popular AI chatbots don’t have those safeguards and have run into trouble dealing with people under mental strain. In worst-case scenarios, they’ve led to lawsuits from people claiming bots encouraged users to commit suicide.
Iris is building in some extra guardrails. The app evaluates every message to determine whether the user may at be at risk of harming themself or others. If a message is deemed safe, the safety program passes it on to iris’s core conversation app for further bantering. But if the message triggers concerns, the control program cuts in, asking clarifying questions and potentially even suggesting the user call 911 or another emergency hotline.
Iris faces a crowded field of AI mental wellness apps, with rivals such as Elomia and Replika. Some go beyond iris’s wellness focus and claim to offer aid for people suffering from depression and other psychological conditions. Some mental health apps have gone out of business chasing regulatory approval to treat specific conditions.
Meanwhile, consumers are turning to AI apps in droves. Many do so after having difficulty getting access to mental health services, said Daniel Coppersmith, a psychology professor at UMass Amherst. He worked on an advisory committee to help the American Psychological Association issue guidelines for mental health and wellness apps last year.
Iris follows many of the association’s recommendations, such as rejecting engagement and protecting users’ private information.
But Coppersmith isn’t yet convinced that such apps are good for people’s mental health, citing a wave of prior digital treatment software that proved ineffective. “Uptake among consumers has outpaced where the data is,” Coppersmith said. “We ultimately need a lot more data on efficacy.”
But Amber Childs, a psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine who also advised on the association guidelines, said AI apps could help fill a void.
“There’s absolutely a role and an opportunity for us to be using things like purpose-built AI solutions,” Childs said. “But we have to be really, really honest with ourselves about what the technology can actually do right now as it sits here today versus what the potential of it is.”
✋ MassDOT demands public safety review before Amazon drone delivery takes off from Westborough. Read more from Globe contributor Yogev Toby.
🤷♀️ Harvard campus shrugs as endowment scores big on Elon Musk. Read more from business columnist Larry Edelman.
🤖 Boston Dynamics workers oppose the company’s robot dog use by ICE. Read more from Globe contributor Yogev Toby.
📦 Tech startup accelerator MassChallenge relocates from Seaport to the Fenway. Read more from business reporter Jon Chesto.
🏗️ Bigger than the railroads: The staggering money behind AI’s data center buildout. Read more from business columnist Larry Edelman.
💰 Private equity firm Advent in Boston raised $30 billion for its latest investment funds.
🏭 Manufacturing tech company Re:Build in Framingham raised $2.1 billion in a deal led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group.
⚡ Energy tech company Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens signed a letter of intent for an $85 million proposed federal R&D award under the CHIPS and Science Act.
📝 Power semiconductor company Vertical Semiconductor in Somerville signed a letter of intent for an $73 million proposed federal R&D award under the CHIPS and Science Act.
🌡️ HVAC tech startup Pascal in Watertown raised $8.5 million in a deal led by Sazze Partners and LB Investment. Pascal also raised $839,000 in state and federal grants.
🤑 Compact fusion developer Cambridge Heavy Industries, spun out of MIT’s Nelson Lab and based in Cambridge, raised $6.2 million in a deal led by Azolla Ventures.
💼 HR software and staffing firm AdeptID in Boston acquired traveling nurse staffing firm MedSource Travelers. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
🔒 Cybersecurity company Legit Security in Boston hired Eitan Worcel as chief strategy officer. Worcel previously was cofounder of Mobb.
🧪 Life sciences software firm eClinical Solutions in Boston hired Brian Testa as chief people officer and Jessica Allen as chief financial officer. Testa previously was chief people officer at iCAD. Allen was senior vice president of finance and accounting at Aetion.
🔔 Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic filed for what could be the biggest initial public offering of stock ever, even as its top executive warns that advanced AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.
No iPad Till After Dinner, Mom (New York Magazine)
Toyota takes on Tesla and China in humanoid robot race (Financial Times)
Computer Chips Are the Most Magnificent Things Humanity Has Ever Made (The New Yorker)
👋 Thanks for reading. We’ll be will be back next Wednesday.
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Aaron Pressman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @ampressman.
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