NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

Your Child's New Therapist? It's an AI.

Young people facing mental health challenges often have nowhere to turn.

• A DCPS Mental Health report found that 6 in 10 teens experience some form of mental health struggle, yet school resources remain limited.

• The recommended ratio is one counselor per 250 students, but the national average is one per 376, and 17% of high schools don’t have a counselor at all.

This escalating mental health crisis among students has prompted schools to explore the integration of AI-powered chatbots to support student well-being. A recent article from The Wall Street Journal highlights this trend, focusing on "Sonny," a chatbot developed by Sonar Mental Health.

Here’s how it works:

• Students have access to Sonny during the hours of 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern time. During this period, a team of six staff members, working in shifts, monitors the ongoing conversations.

• Students can text Sonny when they’re feeling overwhelmed—whether it’s stress about school, personal struggles, or just needing someone to talk to.

• Since launching in 2024, it has supported over 4,500 students in nine school districts, many in rural or low-income areas.

The article included a screenshot of a check-in between Sonny and a student:

• From Sonny: "Sonny here! Scale of 1-10: How's your motivation today? (no judgment 😌)"

• Reply from user: "3"

• From Sonny: "total mooood 😭😭"

• From Sonny: "what been going on?"

Experts warn against AI replacing human support, but several parents have told me their tweens/teens are already discussing school problems with AI friends.

Like it or not, it's happening. We need to focus on regulations to keep these AI companion companies accountable and ensure they're safe, especially for young users.

WOMAN IN TECH

Meet Yinglian Xie and Fang Yu, Founders of DataVisor

Celebrating this week’s Women in Tech 🥳: Meet Yinglian Xie and Fang Yu, the scientists behind DataVisor, the AI risk and fraud detection company last valued at more than $250M.

How It All Started:

• Xie ranked first out of 140 computer science students at Peking University and then earned her computer science Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon focusing on connecting online security threats.

• Yu interned with the founding team of Microsoft Research Asia during her undergraduate studies at Fudan University and then completed her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in internet security.

• Growing up just 30 minutes apart in China, they met at Microsoft Research's Silicon Valley lab, collaborating for 7 years on security and bot detection research.

Entrepreneurship Journey:

In 2013, Xie and Yu transformed their research into action by co-founding DataVisor.

• 2015-2018: Secured first clients Yelp and Momo for fake review detection; raised $14.5M initially but struggled with strategy despite additional $40M funding.

• 2022: Recognized the rapid digitization of financial systems and pivoted towards becoming a ‘one-stop shop‘ for fraud prevention.

• Completely redesigned their algorithms to protect the entire "customer lifecycle," which meant it safeguards businesses from the moment a customer signs up for a service to every transaction they make.

Success and Forbes Recognition:

In 2024, Data Visor’s revenue surged 67% to $50 million. Major customers like SoFi, Affirm, and Marqeta now rely on their AI to stop fraud before it happens.

And just last month, DataVisor landed on Forbes’ Fintech 50 list. 😎 

I find Xie and Yu's journey truly inspiring and am impressed by both their technical brilliance and entrepreneurial resilience.

Would You Vibe to The Sounds of AI’s Tunes?

As a musician, the most symbolic form of protest is to go silent. And that is what many artists are doing to voice their disapproval against AI.

Over 1,000 musicians, including Annie Lennox, Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa, dropped an album called “Is This What We Want?” in protest against proposed changes to UK copyright law. These changes would let AI companies use artists’ content to train models without permission, unless creators specifically opt out.

I found this deeply moving: The album features sound recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, symbolizing the potential silence of artists if these laws pass.

With the proposal raising questions about fairness and copyright, artists are uniting to protect their work and their livelihoods.