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By Ihita Deshmukh
In the fight for combatting opioid use, an unexpected player emerges to augment traditional treatment—artificial intelligence.
Solutions to the multi-layered issue of opioid use disorder grow increasingly imperative to local communities in Alameda County since, according to Alameda County Board of Supervisors, overdoses make up the largest number of drug deaths and have steadily and dramatically increased by 279% since 2017.
Opioids are a class of natural, semisynthetic and synthetic drugs. These include both prescription medications used to treat pain and illegal drugs like heroin.
The uptick of opioids is not a new phenomenon, but it is one that is shifting toward teenagers. Adolescent drug fatalities have more than doubled in recent years—primarily due to opioids—and remain twice as high compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
Youth drug use affects every aspect of life for a teenager, leading to serious health problems and academic/social challenges.
But what is even more alarming is the number of barriers surrounding teenagers acquiring critical treatment, such as a fear of the consequences, stigma surrounding opioid use disorder, and a lack of trust and understanding from others.
“It’s just difficult to admit that you need help sometimes; it’s difficult to admit something is wrong. It’s also just really scary because you don’t even know if you get help, what are the consequences of what’s going to happen,” said a young adult from Alameda County, who asked to not be named.
Stories like this are why teenagers are starting to use generative AI platforms to get answers for important questions they may be afraid to ask the adults in their life.
More than just getting information and brainstorming, AI offers support in a highly targeted way for adolescents to receive urgent help.
Chatbots and conversational agents are available and accessible 24/7. AI has the capacity to analyze data at lightning speed to recognize crisis situations. Evaluating genetics, lifestyle and treatment responses allows for a more personalized treatment plan.
Most of all, AI’s natural language processing algorithms can track the use of language in conversations to detect patterns.
“Language is a function of who and where we are. Substance use is very complex, and we have been using language to look at social vulnerabilities,” states Dr. Brenda Curtis, a principal investigator in the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Curtis uses AI, social media, and smartphone sensors to gain a better understanding of substance use and misuse.
Curtis’ studies uncovered that the language most predictive of community-level opioid overdoses was not explicitly about drug use but about physical and mental pain, boredom and long hours at school/work.
With a rapidly evolving technology-infused world comes the opportunity to grapple with the issue through a new light.
Some are already taking the leap. In Indiana, a nonprofit, Overdose Lifeline, has launched KATE, which stands for “knowledge, advocacy, trust and education,” an AI-powered chatbot. KATE offers immediate and anonymous support to individuals struggling with opioid addiction.
It was launched in March 2025 by Justin Philips, a mom who lost her son to a fatal heroin overdose and wanted to break the barriers of stigma and accessibility by offering 24/7 support for vulnerable populations, such as teenagers, who feel daunted to seek help.
According to Philips, the chatbot is a “reliable, verified source of information” where individuals can ask questions anonymously about drug testing, harm reduction and difficult conversations without tracking data. KATE also remains credible by sourcing information from the CDC and other federal/state organizations.
With AI-powered solutions being relatively new in application, some are skeptical about the consequences of trusting the technology prematurely. AI holds promise in medical settings, but many models are in the development phases without real-life integration.
Chatbots have not yet received FDA approval. Additionally, its algorithms are tested exclusively on certain populations, not being culturally competent just yet. Unsuitable treatment recommendations and failure to detect risky behavior among people of different cultures are still obstacles.
Despite chatbots having humanistic qualities and responses, they are unable to empathize and express true compassion and connection comparatively to a human healthcare provider. While AI comes with a specific set of downsides, it has the potential of serving as a tremendously life-changing supplemental tool, a first step to get lasting help.
Alameda County faces a unique problem—Gavin O’Neill, who manages the Alameda County’s Office of Collaborative Courts, highlights how “living in the Bay Area, the turnover of frontline staff is very chaotic and not sustainable” regarding workers in opioid treatment programs.
Workers need more support, resources and training to create far-reaching impact in Alameda communities. Just like in Indiana, introducing AI technology in Alameda County could help provide rapid, inexpensive, tailored support to teenagers growing increasingly devastated by the opioid crisis.
The domains of using AI are constantly evolving, expanding and improving in their functions.
“People thought the printing press was scary. The telephone was scary. But technology will change society, and it should change society,” Curtis said. “We can use it to dispense large amounts of information quickly, and we can use it to help treatment and healthcare be more efficient and effective.”
While further research is needed to understand how to effectively use AI in the opioid crisis, AI technology emerges as a revolutionary, scalable tool that synergizes existing healthcare services.
It has the potential to improve opportunities for earlier, more accessible intervention for the hundreds of thousands of teenagers using opioids that are struggling to take the first few steps to receive concrete help.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
