Dr. Mai Uchida to explore the intersection of child psychiatry and foundational AI design
News Highlights:
- Dr. Uchida is an expert in psychiatry with specialized experience in pediatrics and neuroscience research.
- She will lead efforts toward understanding AI and its association with mental health, along with building a foundation for safe AI systems.
- Her commitment will progress ongoing research projects within NTT Research’s Physics of AI (PAI) Group to support its vision of bridging AI and humanity.
Sunnyvale, Calif. – Oct. 2, 2025 – NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced the addition of Harvard’s Dr. Mai Uchida to its Physics of AI (PAI) Group. With a background in pediatric psychiatry and neuroscience research, Dr. Uchida is an expert in psychiatry with specialized experience in pediatric mood disorders. As part of her collaboration with the PAI Group, Dr. Uchida plans to build a world-first bridge between cutting-edge AI research and the field of psychiatry through understanding the psychological impact that AI has on users. She will have a crucial role in leading efforts in understanding how AI can provide feedback and empathy and avoid sycophantic behavior in a way that is safe and beneficial for users. This critically important research will lay the groundwork for the PAI Group’s long-term vision of studying humans and AI as a single, integrated system.
“NTT Research’s PAI Group has pioneered the physics of intelligence to scientifically understand AI. However, we now realize that building trustworthy AI requires a deep understanding of the humans who interact with it,” said Dr. Uchida. “I am thrilled to accelerate the research being conducted by the PAI Group with a focus on embedding psychiatric insights directly into AI algorithms and theories.”
Dr. Uchida’s work with the PAI Group plans to integrate clinical insights into AI algorithms, with projects currently focused on AI sycophancy, empathy and the delivery of critical feedback. Additionally, she will focus on designing AI interactions that are fundamentally safe and supportive of user mental well-being, along with pioneering a holistic understanding of the human-AI system. In addition to NTT Research’s PAI Group, Dr. Uchida will continue her ongoing roles as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the child depression program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“We are excited to have Dr. Uchida join the PAI Group,” said Dr. Hidenori Tanaka, Head of NTT Research’s PAI Group. “Her expertise will help our mission to enhance understanding, control and trust of AI.”
Launched in April 2025, the NTT Research PAI Group seeks to understand how and why AI behaves the way it does, further unraveling the complexities of AI mechanisms to create an effective and trustworthy AI. Led by Dr. Hidenori Tanaka, the group aims to identify the fundamental principles that drive AI’s learning and reasoning by bringing together scientific expertise from physics, neuroscience, psychology and cognitive science.
About NTT Research
NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 in Silicon Valley to conduct basic research and advance technologies as a foundational model for developing high-impact innovation across NTT Group’s global business. Currently, four groups are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab, and the Physics of Artificial Intelligence (PAI) Group. The organization aims to advance science in four areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; 3) medical and health informatics; and 4) artificial intelligence. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D investment of thirty percent of its profits.
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