Kochi NGO Maithri receives distress calls via AI referrals

Maithri, a Kochi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on suicide prevention, recently received a distress call from a 26-year-old woman who was reportedly on the verge of ending her life.

On the brink, she reportedly turned to an artificial intelligence-powered application as a last resort to find someone to listen to her grief. Initially, she was directed to a portal with a pre-recorded message service. When she insisted on interacting with a human interface, the chatbot on the portal provided her with the telephone number of Maithri, which has been active in the field for the past three decades. Following her conversation with a Maithri volunteer, she eventually sought the help of a psychologist.