AI startup featured in Enquirer investigation vacates office, shuts down website
The story was originally published in Cincinnati Enquirer with support from our 2024 National Fellowship.
Mental health AI startup Clarigent Health appears to have shut down its website and office in early 2025.
Elizabeth B. Kim/The Enquirer
The company behind the app used in more than 80 schools across Cincinnati to determine student suicide risk has vacated its office and shut down its website, two months after an Enquirer investigation.
Before being disconnected, the website of Clarigent Health promised that its AI-driven app could "measure your mental health in five minutes." The app, known as Clairity, employed a talking owl avatar named Claire to transcribe and analyze counseling sessions, and Clarigent offered a mental health assessment with Claire for $180.
The Enquirer investigation found a lack of evidence proving that Clairity helped schools or employees of Hamilton County Juvenile Court, which also used the app, prevent youth suicide.
As one of the startups in Cincinnati Children's portfolio, the Mason-based company received nearly $1 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health since being founded in 2018.
Representatives of Cincinnati Children’s did not respond to emails asking what happened to the company.
CEO Don Wright, CTO Bill Haynes and director of clinical service delivery Ashley Pavone did not return calls and emails asking whether Clarigent had shut down, though Haynes and Pavone’s LinkedIn profiles show that they no longer work there.
Clarigent's last LinkedIn post was made in November, and while the company's website was still live in January, its domain appears to have been disconnected sometime this month, along with its main phone line.
Mason office sits empty
On the second floor of an office building in Mason, Clarigent Health's former home was vacant, except for some empty desks and stacks of chairs, during a visit Friday.
The whiteboard wall visible through the glass door contains faded diagrams, while the adjacent wall outlined dates for the app's software updates, including Clairity's most recent iOS update in August.
The office building's owner confirmed over the phone that Clarigent vacated the office sometime within the past 30 days.
What the investigation found
While a 2023 study of Clairity funded by the company and co-authored by its employees and consultants found that the AI could identify signs of adverse mental health, an Enquirer investigation could not find independent evidence to support that claim.
Interviews with mental health clinicians familiar with the app and records obtained from 65 school districts over nearly a decade revealed that none of the schools that used the app had data showing that Clairity was successful in its attempts to prevent suicide.
The app's troubles extended beyond schools in Cincinnati. Employees of Hamilton County Juvenile Court tried using the app with youth in the justice system in 2021 but discontinued their contract with Clarigent two years later, citing numerous technical issues.
Hamilton County Juvenile Court used Clairity for two years before discontinuing its contract with Clarigent Health, citing technical issues.
Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer
According to an Enquirer review of research provided by Clarigent Health, Clairity's AI was trained on the language of a majority-white population, leading some researchers to question the app's accuracy for youth of color, or anyone else who may express mental illness differently.
Other experts questioned the ethics of getting parents to consent to a clinician using the AI to help diagnose their child, without fully understanding its risks.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, help is available 24/7. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.