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Indian-American entrepreneur unveils AI therapy app
The app is not intended to replace therapists but to complement traditional care and expand access, Patikh said.
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Bhavana P - Wed, 30, Jul 2025
- 16:16 EDT
- 20
(Top, L-R) Co-founders Daniel Cahn and Neil Parikh (Image- X/ danielreidcahn) / (Bottom) Representative image/ LinkedIn
Slingshot AI, co-founded by Indian-American entrepreneur Neil Parikh, has launched Ash, the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) designed specifically for therapy.
Developed over 18 months and tested by over 50,000 beta users, Ash is now publicly available on both iOS and Android platforms. It offers personalized, evidence-based mental health support using a specialized foundation model built exclusively for psychological therapy.
Unlike general-purpose AI assistants, Ash is trained in multiple therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), psychodynamic therapy, and motivational interviewing.
"We've built Ash from the ground up to address this need and provide a new type of support. Ash understands what real mental health support looks and feels like. Ash will challenge you and take you on a therapeutic journey, and deliver the right modality at the right time,” said Daniel Cahn, co-founder and CEO of Slingshot AI.
The AI is trained through three distinct phases: large-scale behavioral health data pre-training, fine-tuning by Slingshot’s clinical team, and reinforcement learning to personalize user experiences. It was built to fill critical gaps in access to mental health care, especially in underserved communities.
To ensure clinical efficacy, Slingshot has established an expert and clinical advisory board that includes leading names in mental health such as Thomas Insel, former head of the National Institutes of Mental Health, and Devika Bhushan, former Surgeon General of California.
Parikh, who brings experience from scaling Casper to over $500 million in revenue and an IPO, emphasized that Ash is not intended to replace therapists but to complement traditional care and expand access to high-quality support.
Slingshot AI has also announced that it has raised more money to grow the company. This new round of funding was led by two major investment firms, Radical Ventures and Forerunner Ventures. With this latest investment, Slingshot has now raised a total of $93 million. Other well-known investors who have supported the company include a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Felicis, and Menlo Ventures. This funding will help Slingshot improve Ash and make it available to more people.
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