Jie Tao, DSc, is an associate professor of business analytics and the director of the AI and Technology Institute in the Charles F. Dolan School of Business. His research studies the detection of suicidal ideation in social media through artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Through the research model KETCH: “A Knowledge-Enhanced Transformer-Based Approach to Suicidal Ideation Detection from Social Media Content,” Dr. Tao and his team trained large language models (LLM’s) on a vast number of texts. Ultimately, the process integrated human expertise into AI models and, according to the business analytics professor, “the model [was] adopted by psychiatrists and counselors in the field, and it did improve their efficiency in following up with users at suicidal ideation (SI) risk.”
Over the course of more than five years, Dr. Tao and his research colleagues collected their longitude data to build the prototype by looking at multi-cultural social media platforms such as Reddit, X, and Sina Weibo (a blogging website in China). The team then implemented a real-world prototype in China, scaling the work of what would have previously taken 18 mental health experts into a single curated AI-augmented system, largely boosting their detection accuracy and intervention efficiency.
With a background in machine learning and Natural Language Processing, the AI and Tech Institute's ethos of “AI for the greater good” remains at the forefront of Dr. Tao's efforts, both inside and outside the classroom.
“'AI for the greater good' is not just a mission, it’s our compass. I believe the most powerful technology can, and must, be a force for human flourishing,” he said.
As a continuation of his mental health research and as the recipient of the Robert E. Wall Award for the 2025–26 academic year, Dr. Tao’s research proposal, “Using Large Language Models (LLMs) for Mental Health Detection and Intervention on Social Media,” was recognized for its innovative use of AI to address a critical societal need with global relevance, according to University Provost, Christine Siegel, PhD.
The process of choosing the Wall Award by a selection committee comprised of the academic deans and the chair of the Faculty Research Committee is a highlight of each academic year, bringing forward the best of Fairfield University faculty’s essential scholarly work.
To learn more about Fairfield’s research in artificial intelligence and the work of experts like Dr. Tao, visit Fairfield.edu/ai.
