Checked 8 October 2026. South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare published guidance on using generative AI for mental-health purposes. Its general-user document neither bans nor recommends all such use. It advises readers to evaluate a service before a conversation, not to accept its responses as medical conclusions, and not to let an AI relationship replace people or professional help. It does not certify any particular chatbot as safe or effective treatment.
Tasks that can be useful
You might use AI to organize thoughts, formulate questions for a clinician, summarize your own sleep or medication records, or find a starting point for general information—then open and check the cited original sources. A comforting response is not evidence of clinical improvement. An answer that sounds confident is not a diagnosis.
Decisions that belong to people and clinicians
The original guidance says not to ask AI to determine a diagnosis or how severe a condition is, decide what to do in a crisis, choose a treatment, or change, stop or adjust medication on the basis of its response. Do not substitute a chatbot for clinical care or counseling. If you are already in treatment, discuss the AI service you are using with the mental-health professional supporting you. Do not end treatment because an AI reply sounded persuasive.
Check the service before sharing sensitive information
Ask who the service is intended for, what help it claims to offer, whether accessible research supports any mental-health effect, and how it handles personal information. When a service claims to diagnose or treat illness, check any relevant medical-device authorization, its permitted purpose and the underlying evidence rather than assuming a marketing claim has been validated.
The document also asks where a conversation is stored, with whom it is shared, whether it is used for model training and whether it can be deleted or exported. Avoid entering your name, school, workplace, address or contact details, or someone else's private health information. Do not upload a prescription, medical certificate or test-result photo: it may contain far more identifying information than the question you intended to ask. Review a service's training and data controls where available, but do not assume a setting removes every privacy risk.
In immediate distress, seek human help now
The guidance singles out thoughts of suicide or self-harm, hearing or seeing things others do not, and feeling unable to control yourself: AI cannot keep you safe in such a crisis. In South Korea, its listed contacts include the 109 suicide-prevention line, 1577-0199 mental-health crisis line, and 1388 for adolescents. For an immediate emergency call 112 or 119. Seek help from a trusted person and a qualified local service rather than waiting for a chatbot response. Readers outside South Korea should use their local emergency or crisis services.
Children, adolescents and guardians should consult the separate official guidance for them alongside the general-user edition. This article does not recommend a specific service or offer medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
About the Author
Life Mokcha's editorial team checked the ministry's general-user guide and identified its separate youth-and-guardian version. This article summarizes boundaries and human-help routes; it is not a clinical assessment or an emergency-response service.
