Episode #146. Your AI Therapist is Here: Can Bots Really Improve Mental Health?, with Alex Frenkel, CEO and co-founder of Kai.AI

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Risk Never Sleeps Podcast

Episode #146: "Your AI Therapist is Here: Can Bots Really Improve Mental Health?"
Host: Ed Gaudet
Guest: Alex Frenkel, CEO & Co-founder of Kai.AI
Date: November 13, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ed Gaudet sits down with Alex Frenkel, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Kai.AI, to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and mental health. Their conversation delves into how AI-powered platforms like Kai are making mental health care more accessible, scalable, and stigma-free; they explore the impact, challenges, and ethical considerations in deploying AI as an emotional support tool, especially in critical or underserved scenarios.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kai.AI’s Mission and Impact

• Alex’s Background: Started as a clinical psychologist and therapist working in both public and private sectors, later transitioning into tech entrepreneurship.

• Core Mission: Combine evidence-based psychotherapy (e.g., CBT, positive psychology) with conversational AI to bring mental health support to people at scale.

  • “In many ways, this is my life’s mission...combining psychotherapy and AI so we can scale mental health support and bring it to so many people who need it.” (Alex, 01:00)

• Global Reach & Real Impact:

  • Supported over 200,000 people, majority in the US & Canada, with interventions in Ukraine for war-affected families.
  • Emphasizes the shortage: “One million clinicians are missing today all over the world.” (Alex, 01:36)
  • Technology is critical for “reaching anyone fast without waiting for appointments.” (Alex, 01:43)

2. Clinical Outcomes and Accessibility

• Kai.AI conducted the largest-ever clinical study combining AI and mental health:

  • “The results are so exciting because people are getting better. 30% improvement after four weeks.” (Alex, 02:10)

• Key Drivers of Outcomes:

  • 24/7 availability; removes barriers like waitlists, scheduling, and stigma.
  • Users feel less judged by AI and are more willing to engage.
  • Integration of large-scale screening and triage, human escalation for urgent situations.

• “It’s not ChatGPT. Our models are trained by clinicians, the tools are clinically validated, and they will identify distress keywords and escalate to an actual human.” (Alex, 03:27)

3. Growth Strategy

• Transitioned from direct-to-consumer to partnerships:
  • Employers, universities, high schools, providers.
  • Goal is to reach millions: “Mental health is a huge challenge here in the US but also in Asia, Europe, and the UK.” (Alex, 04:24)
• Platform can be leveraged by existing clinicians and health systems to supplement and expand reach.

4. Philosophy: Prevention and Psychological Flexibility

• Mental health support should be proactive, not just reactive:
  • “No one needs to wait for a coup distress… They can work on their psychological flexibility…before things go wrong.” (Alex, 04:44)
• Mental health is to be cared for like physical health.
  • “Psychological flexibility is something that everyone can benefit from.” (Alex, 05:15)

5. Personal Backstory and Entrepreneurship

• Alex’s origin: From being a patient to therapist to tech entrepreneur.

• Realized tech enables impact at a scale not possible in one-on-one therapy.

  • “This magical ability of leveraging technology to reach millions of people is something you cannot unlock in the one-on-one clinical.” (Alex, 05:49)

• Biggest risk ever taken:

  • "Definitely leaving a stable job and becoming an entrepreneur, that's the wildest race I can think of.” (Alex, 08:11)
  • Cultural context of risk-taking in Israel: resilience, teamwork, perseverance.

6. Kai’s Company Structure & Funding

• HQ in New York, R&D in Tel Aviv, UK office for international partnerships.
• Early funding: $7.5M raised quickly from US VCs (including angels from Google, Duolingo, J&J).
  • “I’m very lucky with my two co-founders. We raised the pre-seed very quickly.” (Alex, 07:32)

7. Lifestyle, Passions, and Advice

• On music, art, and the creative struggles tied to mental health.

  • “A lot of musicians, a lot of creatives struggle with mental health. That’s why you have prevalent drug use and alcoholism in those professions.” (Ed, 11:48)
  • “There’s also hope…It’s a way to self-heal.” (Alex, 11:56)

• Advice for students and aspiring entrepreneurs:

  • “It’s a long-term adventure...one day at a time...persevering and being consistent is very, very important. Focus on the people. Build relationships, long-term relationships. Eventually, an amazing team will create magic.” (Alex, 14:33)

• What he’s thankful for:

  • “Definitely for my team. I have two amazing co-founders. Our head of clinical psychology is amazing. I couldn’t have imagined a journey like Kai without this wonderful team.” (Alex, 15:02)

8. The Naming of 'Kai'

• Originally named “Chiron” after the mythological healer.
• Rebranded to "Kai" for simplicity and marketability, with advice from Lemonade co-founder Shai Wininger.
  • “He told me…you need to call the company Kai. It has the AI. It’s short. Everyone will have their own Kai. It’s easy to remember.” (Alex, 15:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Stigma and AI:
  • “There is less shame and less worry of being judged when you interact with AI.” (Alex, 02:43)
• On Global Mental Health:
  • “Everyone struggles...If they do say they don’t struggle, they’re probably not being honest.” (Ed, 04:36)
• On Risk and Change:
  • “If you want to make a change, you need to be willing to take a risk.” (Alex, 12:53)
• On Hope and Mental Health:
  • “There’s also hope. I think so much hope. Transformative. Right. And it’s a way to process and try to self-heal.” (Alex, 11:56)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:00 — Alex’s background and vision for Kai.AI
• 02:10 — Clinical outcomes and research
• 03:27 — Human supervision and escalation
• 04:44 — Proactive mental health and psychological flexibility
• 08:11 — Taking entrepreneurial risks
• 13:17 — User engagement stats: daily use and building resilience
• 14:33 — Advice to healthcare entrepreneurs
• 15:15 — The story behind the name "Kai"

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Tone & Style

The conversation was upbeat, candid, and optimistic, blending deep technical insight with personal reflection and humor. Both speakers emphasized empathy, lived experience, and practical optimism—mirrored in their discussions about creativity, resilience, and risk in life and business.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a comprehensive view into how AI is being leveraged to revolutionize mental health support worldwide. Alex Frenkel’s passion for making support accessible and stigma-free, combined with practical insights into scaling tech for good, shines through. The discussion is both inspirational and grounded, offering practical takeaways for clinicians, technologists, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to Risk Never Sleeps where we meet and get to know the people delivering patient care and protecting patient safety. I'm your host, Ed Gaudet. Welcome to the Risk Never Sleeps podcast where we learn about the people that are on the front lines protecting patient safety and delivering patient care. I'm Ed Gaudet, the host and today I am joined by Alex Frankel, the CEO and co founder of Kai AI.

[A]

Hello, Ed. Happy to be here.

[B]

Good to see you. Yeah. Tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, your role and your company.

[A]

So my background is in clinical psychology. I actually majored and worked as a therapist in public and private clinics, adults and young people. I worked as a school counselor for two high schools, the diagnostics. So my background is clinical, but I've been in tech for many years now. Kai is the second startup that I one of the co founders. Thank you.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And in many ways, this is my life's mission because we're taking the amazing tools that psychotherapy and psychology and positive psychology and CBT has to offer and combining that with conversation AI so that we can scale mental health support and bring it to so many people who need it and don't receive it today.

[B]

Yeah. And we talked about a little bit about what scale means, what does it mean from your perspective?

[A]

So I'll give you a real world example. We supported over 200,000 people so far. Most of them are here in the US and Canada. Wow. And at the same time, we were one of the first solutions to deploy in Ukraine with Russian, Ukrainian speaking therapists so that hundreds of families could receive emotional support when the war began. Right. And this ability to reach anyone fast without waiting for appointments. And there are not enough clinicians. One million clinicians are missing today all over the world. And we cannot solve this without leveraging technology, enriching eventually millions of people.

[B]

And what are some of the outcomes you're able to generate for individuals, for patients?

[A]

So we published two research papers so far and just completed the largest ever clinical study combining AI and mental health. And the results are so exciting because people are getting better. 30% improvement after four weeks. After four weeks. Four weeks working with the service.

[B]

Why?

[A]

Because the AI is available 24 7. You don't need to set an appointment. If something happens, you can receive support. It's amazing. With large scale screening and triaging, with raising flags, with making sure that when more attention is needed, a human can intervene. And we found out that there is less shame and less worry of being judged when you interact with AI. And we work on messaging, on asynchronic messaging. And this is a human operating system. I communicate with my teenage daughters on messaging and with my parents on messaging and with my work callings on messaging. And it's so natural to start the day with Kai because Kai is proactive. Just like saying, hey, Alex, good morning. How did you sleep last night? What's one good thing that you have in your life that you're going to think about today as you start the day? And this accessibility is a game changer.

[B]

Yeah, I love that. And I assume you have some type of continual monitoring for notifications, so if you do need some human to interact.

[A]

Exactly. So Kai is the only service that has a 24. 7 human supervision. It's not chatgpt.

[B]

You need to have that. Absolutely.

[A]

The models are trained by clinicians, the tools are clinically validated and they will identify distress keywords and will escalate to an actual human. Because we're not replacing humans, we're empowering them with the tools and making sure that they can support more people more effectively. It's incredible, but it's not chatgpt, it's not character, it's completely different with real clinics.

[B]

What are your growth plans over the next couple years? Where do you think you're going to get your base to?

[A]

So we started working direct to consumer, but today our focus is on partnerships. We partner with employers mostly and they provide a service for their employees all over the world at different sites. We also partner with universities, colleges, high schools and then even providers as an operating system. If you have clinicians, if you support people today, you can leverage the CHI platform to reach more people and provide a better service.

[B]

So you're going to have tens of millions of people on your platform shortly.

[A]

Yes, we supported over 200,000 people so far and our goal is to reach millions because mental health is a huge challenge here in the us but also in Asia and also in Europe and we operate in the uk.

[B]

Everyone struggles. There's nobody that doesn't struggle. And if they do say they don't struggle, they're probably not being honest.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I think everyone could be a.

[A]

Consumer you 1% right. And a key reason for us to starting the company is this understanding that the tools are amazing and they're effective and no one needs to wait for a coup distress for something to actually break in their life. They can work on their psychological flexibility, they can have the toolkit available even before things go wrong. And it's a way to live a better, healthier, more positive life. And we need to take care of our mental health in exactly the same way we take care of our physical health.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Psychological flexibility is something that everyone can benefit from.

[B]

So what's your origin story? How did you get into the clinical side first?

[A]

So I was a patient myself and I was sure that the clinical track is a way to reach people and help them and provide support. And it was indeed very, very satisfying. And the first startup company that I started years ago was a complete mistake. I was completely sure that it's going to be a showtime adventure and I go back to the clinic because that's my life's mission.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I discovered the parallel universe. This magical ability of leveraging technology to reach millions of people is something that you cannot unlock in the one on one clinical.

[B]

That's right. Yeah. I love that connection with magic too. Especially here at Health. There's a lot of magicians walking around the floor. Have you seen them?

[A]

I saw some ones and some. Yeah, yeah, of course.

[B]

Unicorns.

[A]

Unicorns.

[B]

It's crazy. It's a magical place, Health.

[A]

It is. Especially when we use the magic to do good and help.

[B]

Practical magic.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Practical magic.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So.

[B]

So if you could go back in time and tell your 20 year old self something, what would it be?

[A]

So one thing is I would tell myself that everything is going to turn out okay and things are getting better and there's so much good in the world. That's something that's so easy to forget because of the negativity bias. We tend to look at the things that go wrong at what didn't work in the past, what can go wrong in the future. And having this positive voice, positive mindset is something I would definitely share with my younger self.

[B]

I love that. I love that. And where's your office located? Where are you located?

[A]

So we're a US company. Our main office is in New York, but we have an R and D site in Tel Aviv in Israel. There is amazing technology knowledge and engineers in Tel Aviv.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we have a UK entity because we're partnering with companies in the uk.

[B]

Well, you're global, right? So you're.

[A]

Yeah, yes, it's a global issue. We have asks from Japan for supporting elderly people with loneliness and mental health challenges. But we also work with veterans, with college students, with employees.

[B]

That's great. Yeah, yeah. So you started this company. Did you get investors early on or did you bootstrap it or.

[A]

No, because we are very experienced entrepreneurs. I'm very lucky with my two co founders. We raised the precede very Very quickly. So Kai raised $7.5 million so far. Very good. US VCs.

[B]

VCs.

[A]

Yeah. Rentful Ventures. They're amazing. Out of LA and New York, we have the first ventures in New York, some family offices, and we're super blessed with angel investors that care about mental health from Google, from Duolingo, from J and J.

[B]

So we were very, very great. Yeah, yeah. It's good to get strategics in there too.

[A]

Yeah, they're very, very helpful. Besides the initial check, of course.

[B]

Yeah. This is the Risk Never Sleeps podcast. I got to ask you this question. What's the riskiest thing you've ever done?

[A]

So definitely, definitely leaving a stable job and becoming an entrepreneur, that's the wildest race I can think of.

[B]

Pretty risky.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because everyone was saying, hey, like, you have a stable salary, you're good doing something that is very, very crazy. And for me, this is the best decision ever. This ability to create jobs, to work with amazing people, to use technology to reach people at scale and touch their life in a positive way is something that I couldn't have done without jumping and taking this risk.

[B]

Now, do you grow up in Tel Aviv?

[A]

Yeah, we moved to Israel from Ukraine when I was 4 years old and I grew up in Israel.

[B]

Okay, and did you serve in the military or.

[A]

I did. I served at the intelligence forces.

[B]

So that's pretty risky.

[A]

Lucky. Everyone serves. You know, Israel is very, very different. It's still the environment is risky. Like, the decision to live in Israel is risky.

[B]

That's probably the riskiest thing.

[A]

Right. I think it creates this unique experience where, like, having this ability to trust other people, work with amazing teams to create impact at scale is something that you see very commonly in Israel. Like, many times people will say, Israel is the startup nation and Israeli tech hub is the second largest in the world, only after Silicon Valley. So that's really insane.

[B]

Yeah. And you probably don't take much for granted either.

[A]

No, no. This understanding that you work hard, you persevere, you partner with amazing talents, and you make things work, that's deep in our culture.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think in the US People take things for granted. I think we need to go back to some basic application of the work ethic.

[A]

Yeah. The US Is number one. Right. It's the inspiration. It's always, always this, like, lighthouse on the hill that everyone is looking, like, to see and copy and learn from. And still the US is the biggest market, the most important one.

[B]

Yeah. I think the Israelis work harder.

[A]

I think that we don't have any other choice. Like, that's like, the basics of our education system and then serving the country. It's in the DNA. So working hard.

[B]

Y. Excellent, excellent. Will some good texts come out of there? Checkpoint. Did you know Checkpoint?

[A]

Checkpoint. Waze Lemonade. J Frogs. So many, like, Israeli companies went public and are super, super successful. Kai. Yes. Like, that's our goal. We want to be a global company and go live on the nasdaq. That's excellent.

[B]

Do you like music?

[A]

I love music. Okay, good. Music is life.

[B]

Music is life. So you're on an island. You can only bring a couple, five records with you. What would you bring?

[A]

Oh, I love the Beatles, so I'm from that generation. But last week in New York, I saw a wonderful group called My Morning Jacket.

[B]

Oh, sure. Yeah.

[A]

Amazing show.

[B]

That's a great show.

[A]

Rock music live is great. I saw Springsteen for the first time live in Berlin.

[B]

So good.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You're gonna see the movie.

[A]

I will definitely see the movie.

[B]

Did you see the Dylan movie?

[A]

I did. Wasn't it? Yes, yes, I enjoyed it.

[B]

Such a great actor. You felt like Bob. It was Bobby.

[A]

Yes, yes. And the songs are amazing. And the story, right?

[B]

Yeah, story's good. I'm looking forward to seeing the Springsteen movie to see if he can pull it off because that's a. Those are big shoes to fill for that actor.

[A]

I saw his, like, show on Broadway on tv. I wasn't lucky to get the tickets. And, like, he's an amazing storyteller. I'm sure it's an amazing story. Did you see the Billy Joel documentary?

[B]

I did. I enjoyed that. Yeah. What a troubled soul.

[A]

Wow. Amazing mental health and struggling mental health.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Creating so much art out of those dark places.

[B]

A lot of musicians, a lot of creatives struggle with mental health. You know, that's why you have prevalent drug use and alcoholism in those professions.

[A]

But there's also hope. I think that so much hope. Transformative. Right. And it's a way to, like, process and try to, like, self heal.

[B]

When you see people like Slash and Keith Richards still exist after everything they've been through.

[A]

Right.

[B]

On their journey, you can. There's hope.

[A]

Definitely. I love movies as well. So for me, like, watching Robin Williams on Dead Poet Society was a huge.

[B]

Dead Poet Society. Yeah. Well, that's a movie after My Own Heart. I write poetry.

[A]

Oh, I didn't know.

[B]

Did you write poetry?

[A]

I don't, but I read it and again, it's transformative.

[B]

Whitman in that movie.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

A lot of references to Walt Whitman.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Captain. My captain. Yeah. Yes. All right.

[A]

That's a good tagline for this podcast as well. Right? Taking risk and living life.

[B]

Yeah, it is. Right? Life is risk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Right. You wake up, you're processing risks. Right. Out of bed. Right. Or in bed.

[A]

Yes. If you want to make a change, you need to be willing to take a risk.

[B]

Yeah. You got to get your feet off the bed, on the floor and start walking. Embrace life, stay positive. So many people. I think it's a choice. I know it's hard to say, but I think people have a. Generally a choice. I think if you choose to be positive. I know it's hard. It's hard to be positive. Right. Because it's easier to be negative, I think.

[A]

Yeah. One thing I will tell you, like numbers, they're always important. So one thing we saw with guys, that many people would interact with Kai every single day, like more than third of the people every single day, but many of them only for one or two minutes a day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So this one minute pause, turning our attention to something I'm grateful for, to something that.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I'm looking forward today, something good that happened and earlier today is so important in building this resilience and being able to take risk and stay positive.

[B]

Yeah. One day at a time.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

If you weren't doing this job, what would you be doing?

[A]

I would probably go back to the clinic and work as a therapist. Maybe start my own clinics.

[B]

All right. If you weren't working, what would you do?

[A]

Definitely art and music. I'm a big chess fan. I'll probably just learn more. There's some art element in chess as well. And some troubled souls as well, unfortunately.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Are you a painter too? Or do you said art? So I don't know.

[A]

So I used to play the keyboard, the piano and. Yeah. Music, some guitar, but not enough.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Life's too short. You should start. Grab the guitar, play the guitar. If you could share any advice to kids coming out of school that want to come into healthcare or be an entrepreneur, what would you say?

[A]

I would definitely say that it's a long term adventure and one day at a time, as you said, is the right mindset and not expecting short term results, just persevering and being consistent is very, very important. And the other one is definitely focus on the people. So connect with good people, build relationships, long term relationships, and eventually an amazing team will create magic.

[B]

Yeah. And what are you most thankful for?

[A]

Definitely for my team. I have two amazing co founders. Our head of clinical psychology is amazing. I couldn't have imagined a journey like Kai without this wonderful team.

[B]

How did you come up with the name Kai?

[A]

So we didn't start with the name Kai. We started with the name Chiron, from the Greek myth. Like a healer, constellation of stars, and a good friend who is like a marketing genius and a very kind person and artist. He started Lemonade. His name is Shai. Vinegar told me, Alex, the story about Chiron is wonderful. You can tell it, but you need to call the company Kai. It has the AI. It's short. Everyone will have their own Kai. It's easy to remember. And we were so lucky to have the domain.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

Wow. That's.

[B]

Yeah. Because it's such a powerful name. It's simple. If you chose the other name, people would have been like, what? How do I spell it?

[A]

Wow. Yeah. Well, that's easy. K I. Super, super simple. Yeah.

[B]

All right, well, it's a pleasure meeting you. This is Ed Gaudette from the Wrist Never Sleeps podcast. If you're on the front lines protecting patient safety and delivering patient care, remember to stay vigilant because Risk never sleeps. Thanks for listening to Risk Never Sleeps. For the show, notes, resources and more information and how to transform the protection of patient safety, Visit [e-mail] that's C E N S I N E T dot com. I'm your host, Ed Gaudet. And until next time, stay vigilant because Risk never sleeps.