Artificial intelligence in psychiatry research, diagnosis, and therapy

Psychiatric disorders are now responsible for the largest proportion of the global burden of disease, and even more challenges have been seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence (AI) is commonly used to facilitate the early detection of disease, understand disease progression, and discover new treatments in the fields of both physical and mental health. The present review provides a broad overview of AI methodology and its applications in data acquisition and processing, feature extraction and characterization, psychiatric disorder classification, potential biomarker detection, real-time monitoring, and interventions in psychiatric disorders. We also comprehensively summarize AI applications with regard to the early warning, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of specific psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, addiction, sleep disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease. The advantages and disadvantages of AI in psychiatry are clarified. We foresee a new wave of research opportunities to facilitate and improve AI technology and its long-term implications in psychiatry during and after the COVID-19 era. •This review provides a comprehensive summarization of artificial intelligence (AI) methodology and its applications in psychiatric disorders.•AI algorithms offer a breakthrough opportunity to more accurately detect, diagnosis, and classify psychiatric disorders, and improve prognosis and treatment.•AI robots are developing rapidly and could be a major aid to the clinical treatment of psychiatric disorders, especially depression and autism spectrum disorder.•We clarify both advantages and disadvantages of AI and highlight its long-term implications in psychiatry during and after the COVID-19 era.