Matters arising: a response to loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots

Npj Ment Health Res. 2025 Nov 17;4(1):60. doi: 10.1038/s44184-024-00083-w.

ABSTRACT

In their recent paper¹, Maples et al. surveyed users of the Replika app². Among their results, they reported that participants were relatively lonely and used Replika for diverse purposes, and emphasized that “3% reported that Replika halted their suicidal ideation”¹. However, important context about how Replika has been marketed and used was missing. We provide context about Replika’s sexual component, and discuss the threat of industry interests to scientific integrity.

PMID:41249492 | DOI:10.1038/s44184-024-00083-w