Treating the mental health of citizens is necessary after the years of pandemic. With the current social, economic and political crisis, the bet should even be redoubled. In Lauquen Train An attempt was made to take a step in that direction, although resorting to digital shortcuts: at the end of 2023, the then mayor of the Buenos Aires town, Miguel Fernández, signed an agreement with the influencer – and former host – Connie Ansaldi, to put into practice the app Cux in so that the inhabitants receive “support and accompaniment in a safe space.” The brakes – and sanity – came from psychologists in the same city, who warned of the consequences of trusting mental health to a chatbot and after a few months, the experiment came to an end.
The case now took on greater relevance due to a report from Telenoche, which recorded the entire arrangement between the Buenos Aires city and Ansaldi. And through social networks it was discovered that the app, for example, talked about the advantages of ingesting clonazepam.
The app in question is called “Cux“and its main motto “Tell me a secret”. Ansaldi and his partner, Alexia, promote it as a “solution” for “the 85% of people who do not access mental health care” and explain that it is a tool for “democratize access to Emotional Health in Spanish-speaking countries.”
“CUX is a 24/7 humanized mental health assistant powered by artificial intelligence. It is specially designed to listen to you, help you and give you emotional support while connecting you with people who experience similar things to you. It also offers the possibility of accessing institutions and professionals who work in mental health,” the application defines itself on its website.
The strange agreement
The app began to be questioned by mental health specialists from Trenque Lauquen, after the municipality signed an agreement at the end of 2023 so that residents could use it for free. The initiative was announced, with great fanfare, at an event in the Civic Center Auditorium that was attended by Ansaldi herself. There, the outgoing mayor – both are from the same party, the UCR – presented the application as “a tool based on Artificial Intelligence that will accompany many people who are suffering from a few mental health problems or feel alone, exacerbated after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“What is seen today in the community is an enormous demand for assistance, with professionals working at the limit of their capacity in the public and private system.both psychiatrists and psychologists, and we need to support our neighbors, and we understand that this is a tool that can help support many people,” said the municipal chief who usually shows off his degree in medical sciences.
The contract between Ansaldi and the Trenque Lauquen government, according to the report Telenight which put the app back in the center of the public scene, “lasted three months and the Cux application could renew.” However, Given the wave of questions from several colleges of psychologists, “the municipality chose to cancel the Cux service.”
What is Cux, Connie Ansaldi’s app like?
The CUX application does not have its own artificial intelligence but rather works with a search model similar to ChatGPT. By downloading the app, the user has the possibility of having ten free conversations. If you want to continue using the service, you must pay a monthly payment of 3,500 pesos. The latest news is that it is included in a traveler assistance package in one of the best-known insurers on the market: there are many who mention that the director of that insurer is also an investor in CUX.
“Connie Ansaldi, our Foundress and reference in innovation and technology, has a community of 3 million people whom she inspires and motivates to live better,” describes the reach of the former presenter on the website, who counts her Instagram followers as their community. “Tell Me a Secret began in 2020 during the pandemic and today that space was transformed thanks to technology at CUXwith the potential to help millions”, completes the official Cux page, which recalls that “the World Economic Forum announced that by 2030, the next pandemic will be mental health”, so “the time is now” , they propose.
At the time the report came out, several Internet users entered the free version to learn the scope of the conversation with the chatbot. And, as they showed, they came to strange conclusions about the “benefits” of ingesting anxiolytics.
On the Cux website, its creators also explain that the app’s mission is to “offer a space for containment and emotional support to help people find their personal well-being.” “We believe that without Emotional Health there is no health and with simple and accessible tools, we can transform millions of lives,” they point out.
