Al is becoming the World's largest Relationship Therapist. We Can't Afford to Get it Wrong.

AI in HealthcareSession

Clay Cockrell, Tony Fabrikant

When: Thursday, July 21:30 PM – 1:50 PM · 20 min
Where: Track 7San Francisco, CA · imported from ai.engineer's public schedule feed

About this session

Millions of people are now turning to AI for relationship advice and emotional support, often before they'd ever consider a human therapist. Most of the AI Therapy that is available is without clinical oversight, ethical frameworks, or any serious reckoning with what it means to intervene in the most intimate and vulnerable space in a person's life. People are getting hurt. As a couples therapist with 30 years experience, I teamed up with the former CTO at S&P and we created CoupleWork, an AI relationship therapist I essentially trained on three decades of clinical knowledge and every evidence-based modality that exists. Our voice interactive AI, Maxine, is proving this can be done responsibly and very effectively. And what we're learning about the nature of love, connection, and human vulnerability at scale is something this industry needs to hear. I also want to talk about what comes next: the regulatory frameworks that don't yet exist, the liability questions nobody is answering, and why the therapists who should be leading this conversation are almost entirely absent from it.

Speakers (2)

Clay Cockrell

Co-Founder, CoupleWork AI

Clay Cockrell, LCSW is a pioneering psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience. He is the founder of Walk and Talk Therapy, conducting therapy sessions in NY’s Central Park and is an exited founder of The Online Counseling Directory (www.onlinecounseling.com). Clay has written several articles for The Guardian and made media appearances on Good Morning America, NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, CBS’s The Doctors, and The Happiness Lab. His work and expertise have been highlighted in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times, and The Times of London. As the co-founder of CoupleWork, Clay is at the forefront of integrating artificial intelligence into relationship coaching. The app, featuring Maxine, an AI relationship coach, provides couples and individuals with evidenced based and personalized guidance to navigate relationship challenges.

Tony Fabrikant

Co-founder, CoupleWork AI

Tony Fabrikant is cofounder of BetterLabs AI and builder of CoupleWork, an AI relationship coach helping couples navigate conflict, repair, crisis moments, and long-term relationship health. He previously held senior technology leadership roles at S&P Global, where he served as CTO for a major financial data and analytics business, and at Bridgewater Associates, where he worked on investment technology and research systems. Tony’s work focuses on applying AI agents, real-time voice AI, and safety-first product design to deeply human problems. At CoupleWork, he partners with cofounder Clay Cockrell, LCSW, a licensed relationship therapist, to build evidence-based AI support for couples who are priced out of therapy, between sessions, or otherwise unable to access traditional support. He is especially interested in how AI systems can be designed to strengthen human relationships rather than simply maximize engagement.

More in AI in Healthcare

For developers: this programme is open data — JSON, iCal, schedule XML and an MCP endpoint.Show endpoints

No key, no signup, CORS open. Everything here is generated from the same data the organisers edit.