“We wanted to [undertake a] project that was dedicated to people,” Pablo Molina Enguídanos says, after he and two others—Pere Márquez Barber and Lucas Santos—saw the widespread and severe toll the pandemic took on mental health. And, in just three weeks, they created an AI powered program that can do just that: support mental health.

It’s not widely discussed, but mental health professionals have their own struggles with the unique challenges of their work. Psychotherapists who see patients with issues like PTSD, anxiety and depression, work with a trove of sensory input—from the tone of voice, to facial expressions, to even what is said and how—that convey useful information.

But remote therapy, which has taken off since the pandemic erupted, can make it harder for therapists to gauge their patients’ sensory cues. This added demand, coupled with mental health professionals’ routine job requirements, can sometimes set the stage for burnout.

These are exactly the kinds of challenges that Pablo, Pere and Lucas hope the AI program, CoterapIA, that they developed, can help therapists with—by giving them a second set of eyes. The program gives mental health professionals a helping hand by recording patients’ verbal and non-verbal expressions via video, then providing actionable information in an easy-to-digest form. It’s hoped that the byproduct of CoterapIA is, eventually, better care for patients.

How exactly did Pablo, Pere and Lucas—three students with no background in psychology—come up with the brainwave for its creation? This was the result of a fortuitous coming together at Samsung Electronics’ Samsung Innovation Campus in Valencia, Spain, where the three had been selected to take part in an intensive three-month course on AI. This is a scheme that not only aims to provide young people with training in a range of advanced technologies, but also equips them with the soft skills they need to succeed in the workplace.

Mental health is also a timely concern. This challenge, especially among the younger generations, was already an issue before the pandemic—but, given the events of the past few years, there has been a huge jump in depression and anxiety globally. And many countries’ health systems are struggling to keep up as a result.

This made the topic an obvious choice for the trio—given their desire to do something good and an overlapping interest in language from Pere and Pablo. Pere had happened to read a book on neuro-linguistic programming just before the course, which sparked his interest, while Pablo is the founder of two language app startups. “I just love languages”, as he puts it.

The first part of Samsung’s course saw the students focus on learning theoretical and practical skills. In a series of modules classes led by teachers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, they were taught the critical aspects of AI and given practical exercises to reinforce those concepts. Lucas highlights the passion and support of the teachers, saying that “the atmosphere in the classroom was ambitious”. And even though the class materials from Samsung were already “really well done”, Pablo notes that the teachers also created their own material to bring the topics further to life.

In the second phase of the course, they put this knowledge into action with their capstone project. For Pere, who is studying interactive technologies; Pablo, a computer engineering undergraduate; and Lucas, a recent graduate of electrical engineering, these topics weren’t exactly new. However, Samsung’s course gave them a more detailed understanding of what was possible with AI and, just as importantly, provided them with a grounding in how to make their ideas reality

After brainstorming together, they decided on CoterapIA, with the idea that therapists could check out the data after their session with a patient to see if they had missed out on anything, and find new areas to explore for further sessions.

As there were three parts of designing their tool—verbal, non-verbal and context—each team member focused on one area. One of the most difficult parts, Pablo comments, was making it user-friendly. People’s expressions can change so quickly, which can lead to erratic data. However, this was solved, he explains, by creating a new set of algorithms that considered each expression within its context to create a smoother output.

As the course has ended, CoterapIA has been put on hold for now. The students don’t know now if and when this project will be picked up again, but say it has had a huge impact on their future plans.

For Pablo, it has simply reinforced his drive to get into this sphere. “Whenever I face a problem now, I would know whether it can be solved with AI, and also how to approach that AI solution,” he says. Adding to this, he says, is finding even more inspiration for what to tackle next with AI. “It’s [now] even easier and more interesting to think about new ways to solve problems,” he says.

And, for Pere, the fact that the team was able to build a successful and complicated tool, has left him feeling immensely proud, as well as instilled in him the knowledge that he has the skills to create a project like this from scratch. He says that, while he still has the same ambition to continue working within tech, Samsung’s course has given him a big confidence boost. “I know that now I can make anything with hard work,” he says.

Lucas, who now works in automation, says this has also cemented his drive to continue working in the area. “For me it’s incredible… it’s part of the present and the future,” he says about AI’s potential. And while he isn’t sure about what form his future work could take at present, he knows that he wants to use technology to help people.

Boosted by his experience at Samsung’s course, Pablo has this to say to those thinking of kickstarting their own AI projects, “I don’t think there’s a better moment to get into AI development. The best moment might be yesterday, but the second-best time is today.”