What is MYLO?
Manage Your Life Online, or MYLO, is a conversational agent that uses rule-based artificial intelligence to ask curious questions that help users explore any problems they are having. MYLO's conversational style is based on Method of Levels (MOL) principles, a form of conversation that aims to support people to think about their problems from new perspectives, reducing their stress related to these problems and ultimately helping them to solve them.
The current MYLO interface was designed with young people and current research is ongoing to test MYLOs effectiveness in this population.
Why was MYLO developed?
Digital wellbeing interventions are a highly scalable way to improve access to support and reduce levels of stress in the community. MYLO is easy to use and can support a wide range of problems. MYLO is the only chatbot to currently utilise MOL principles and techniques, with a large database of curious questions modelled on real-life MOL conversations.
What problem is MYLO addressing?
There is an unmet need for supporting people experiencing stress due to waiting lists for professional services, fear of disclosure, stigma, and other barriers to accessing professional services (e.g., school and work commitments). MYLO is user-led and highly flexible to competing demands on users’ time. For people who cannot, or do not want to access professional help or as a supplement to other support they are already accessing, MLYO is easily accessible on user’s internet devices (e.g., smartphones), does not require a referral to use, can be used at a time and place of the users choosing, and can be used to support a variety of problems.
Previous MYLO research
Two randomised controlled studies found that university students reported that their problems were better resolved by MYLO than a comparison chatbot (Bird et al., 2018; Gaffney et al., 2014). A study of older adults also found users spent more time talking with MYLO than a comparison chatbot, as well as rating MYLO as more helpful (Bennion et al., 2020). Previous studies have only measured outcomes from very brief use of MYLO (up to 2 weeks) and studies of longer-term use are planned to examine MYLOs effectiveness at resolving problems and supporting better wellbeing.
