By the Integrative Health staff
Earlier this month, KAIST announced the official launch of the KAIST Center for Mind Care and Development (KMCG), a new integrated platform that advances mental health support for students and faculty while advancing digital mental health research. KAIST also hosted the International Symposium on Human Behavior and Mental Health, which attracted strong interest from academic and general audiences, with attendance exceeding 300 KAIST faculty, researchers, students, and global digital health experts. This reflects the growing need for innovative mental health frameworks to address the challenges of the age of artificial intelligence.
“In an era where artificial intelligence is replacing high-level human intellectual work, our greatest concern is not technological deficiency, but the potential erosion of human-centered values and culture,” said Kwang Hyung Lee, president of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. press release. “Technology must remain a tool guided by human wisdom and philosophy, not the other way around.”
KMCG combines counseling, psychological care, and crisis intervention services previously scattered across campus by expanding and restructuring the existing Student Counseling Center. By centralizing these resources, it simplifies access to care and provides a more coordinated, seamless and consistent support system in one place.
More than a traditional counseling center, KMCG serves as a living laboratory that combines practical mental health care with the research expertise of KAIST. Researchers in the fields of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, industrial design, digital humanities, mathematics, and computer science work together to develop and evaluate innovative solutions for mental health. These collaborative efforts allow for evidence-based support for students while generating real-world insights that inform ongoing research and service improvements.
KMCG is also conducting research on the impact of generative AI on the practice of psychiatry, which has been published in a journal Journal of Medical Internet Research (DOI: 10.2196/96556). The study found that generative AI has both benefits and harms. Positive impacts include helping users regulate emotions, encouraging self-care, and expanding access to treatment, and negative impacts include overdependence, reinforcement of distorted beliefs, and the potential for adverse outcomes depending on the patient’s level of impairment and the context in which the AI is used.
“A sound mind is the foundation for achieving outstanding research,” Doyoung Jung, director of KMCG, said in the same press release. “We will develop the Center for Mind Care and Growth into a platform that drives mental health solutions for universities across Korea.”
