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JED Partners With Science to People on Akari Pilot, a New AI Tool for Science and Health Communication
The Jed Foundation (JED) is partnering with Science to People (S2P) to pilot Akari Idea Studio, an artificial intelligence (AI) creative partner designed to help content creators produce accurate, trustworthy, and culturally attuned science and health communication.
The collaboration reflects JED’s broader effort to help shape AI, media, and digital environments that better support youth mental health and suicide prevention. As generative AI tools increasingly shape how information is created and shared, the values and evidence behind those tools play an important role in how young people encounter mental health information and whether that information serves them well.
Akari is powered by VeriSciLM, a language model designed specifically for health and science communication. The model draws on curated scientific sources and communication research, from partners including the National Academy of Medicine, FrameWorks Institute, Yale School of Public Health, and JED, alongside science translation and public health messaging recommended practices. Several of those partners are also collaborating to evaluate how Akari influences the accuracy, clarity, and trustworthiness of mental health content.
JED’s Digital Storytelling Guide — tools and guidance for creators on how to tell mental health stories in ways that are safe, impactful, and supportive of both their audiences and their own well-being — is integrated into Akari’s creator workflows. JED is also participating in Akari’s ongoing review and evaluation, contributing expertise as the tool develops.
Akari’s eight-week pilot for health and wellness content creators launched on March 16. It aims to demonstrate what responsible, research-informed AI can look like in practice and to generate insights into what increases trust, accuracy, and emotional resonance in creator-driven mental health content. That will contribute to a still-nascent body of knowledge about how AI tools can support rather than undermine the safe, accurate mental health information that young people deserve.
JED is committed to ensuring that AI supports youth mental health, and this partnership with S2P is one part of that work.
Read more about JED’s thinking on AI, media, and youth well-being.