STAT+: Slingshot pulls therapy chatbot Ash out of U.K. over regulatory concerns

Slingshot AI will withdraw its therapy chatbot app Ash from the United Kingdom this week over concerns that it runs afoul of the country’s medical device regulations.

Slingshot CEO Daniel Reid Cahn wrote in an email to users that “there isn’t a clear regulatory pathway for wellbeing products like ours — and without that clarity, we can’t operate with confidence.” He said the app will not be available after Jan. 23 and that the company is in conversations with the government on a remedy. Representatives for Slingshot did not respond to a request for comment.

Slingshot, which has raised $93 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, has been among the most aggressive to push out a large language model-based mental health product to consumers amid broad concern that generative artificial intelligence chatbots can be dangerous for people with mental health issues.

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