Balearic Startup Spotlight: Luara: A Mental Health Copilot

What happens when artificial intelligence encounters one of the most human professions there is? Imagine having a laptop as a psychologist. That would be strange, right? There are certain human qualities that cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence: empathy, emotional connection, intuition, and the ability to analyse our life experiences with all their complexities. Some things are simply human.

While many view AI skeptically, fearing widespread job displacement, for Luara, the answer was never to replace - but to give a tool that will enhance client connection.

"Luara is an AI copilot for psychologists that help them save approximately two hours a day," streamlining sessions "by transcribing, summarizing and taking automatic notes," explains Lucas Lober, one of the company's co-founders.

But behind what looks like another productivity tool lies a path of dilemmas and questions - what parts of therapy can we safely hand over to AI?

From Loneliness to Therapy

"When I met Lucas 20 years ago, we started with this project by connecting through the idea of loneliness," says co-founder Jordi Llull. With the rise of technology people became less inclined to participate in real human connection, "feeling more lonely than a century ago."

Technically adept, the two men aimed to resolve this problem through a platform based on a human-like AI companion known as Luara, who people could talk to if they felt lonesome. But when they began showing the product to psychologists, they received unforeseen feedback.

"This is scary," Jordi recalls, "you shouldn't do this without the psychology." Therapists believed it was a risk to use this platform without professional supervision, noting that AI models tend to reinforce user biases rather than challenge them. In contrast, clinical therapy requires professionals to challenge patients as part of their healing process. Although the platform's potential in clinical therapy was clear, many therapists could not see themselves using it with their patients as it stood.

So they changed their approach.

"We think that we can help people by helping those that help people." Rather than having a tool who talks directly to potential patients, the company began building a "copilot" - an assistant for the professional. Currently, Luara represents an AI-powered software tool designed for mental health professionals and therapists around Spain, assisting with clinical notes, transcription and client communication management.

Humanity Is Still in Control

While the co-founders do acknowledge the risks that come with integrating AI into any job, especially in psychology, there are still things AI will not be able to replace anytime soon. As Jordi points out, "One factor is human connection, that only the therapist can provide," following with the fact that "AI is not a legal entity, it cannot sign a report or give an invoice to a patient." The therapist stays in control of all of these factors.

Therapy is a profession where the main delegates are empathy, trust and human connection. As Lucas accurately notes, it is a place where "I want to feel seen and understood," something that a structured and rational response from an AI cannot deliver.

Precisely because "We have a technology that gives you quick results, without providing the human connection," Luara harnessed AI's power to assist professionals, rather than substitute them.

Giving Psychologists the Tools to Question AI

Apart from being the founders, Lucas notes that there is also "a part of empowering psychologists" within their job. He recognizes that AI can make mistakes, hallucinate and reinforce existing problems, features that may scare psychologists into asking themselves questions like "Can I expose it to my patients?" or "Is it ethical to use it myself?"

For that reason the company puts considerable emphasis on training.

"They need to be active," Lucas says of psychologists using AI. "They need to understand it, getting their hands dirty and seeing where the limits are, when it's a good ethical use and when it's wrong."

The goal is not simply providing professionals with a tool, but to help them understand how to use it in a way that will enable it to unlock its full potential. Lucas mentions that they involve psychologists in "trainings on the fundamentals of AI cyber security and ethical practice." In that sense, Luara demonstrates how the product is only a part of the approach, a system where therapists become more efficient by becoming knowledgeable of their own tools.

A Look Into the Future

Jordi says that at the moment, Luara focuses expanding their help not only geographically, but into "other professions related to mental health" such as psychiatry and nutrition.

But their much larger vision is called "fifth generation therapy."

The idea is that "the therapist has a clearer view of the patient's life" - potentially including data on sleep patterns, physical activity and nutrition - enabling them to delve deeper into the therapeutic process.

It is an ambitious idea, but the founders are careful about how quickly it should happen.

"We feel that the market is not ready yet and there needs to be more research to adopt it at this scale," Jordi says when discussing research into AI-assisted therapy, "we need more data points." He emphasizes that mental-health technology requires particularly careful implementation and that Luara is currently taking "small steps" towards the future.

It is clear that the future of AI will only continue to evolve. But the future is not about replacing, but instead, giving professionals like therapists better tools, more information and time so they can focus on the part of their job that it takes to be human.

As Jordi puts it, there is one aspect of humanity that will not change:

"The thing that's not going to change is the need for human connection."

And just as professionals navigate the challenges of AI, we are all learning how to navigate an increasingly changing world. Perhaps the best advice is Lucas's own: "Meet new people, face the fears, understand what you want independently."

Move past the comfort of artificial intellect; instead, apply human wisdom to govern its power.