NAMI joins Common Sense Media youth AI safety standards program

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has joined Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute as a standards steering partner, according to EdTech Innovation Hub. NAMI will help develop standards for how AI products respond when young people experience suicidal ideation, psychosis, or other severe mental health crises.

The work will address when AI products should connect a young person with a trusted adult or other human support. NAMI joins Crisis Text Line in the institute's first standards program, which focuses on severe harms. The initial standards and assessment methodology are scheduled for publication in 2027.

NAMI will contribute perspectives from young people, families, and others affected by mental illness. The organization is also working with Dr. John Torous and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on separate benchmarks for evaluating AI responses to mental health questions.