The Path, founded by Tony Robbins and Calm alums, hopes to offer safer AI therapy

A new AI therapy app called The Path is entering the mental health space with a focus on safety. The company was founded by motivational speaker Tony Robbins alongside alumni from Calm, the meditation and mental wellness app.

The Path claims its AI model scored 95 out of 100 on Vera-MH, a benchmark designed to measure mental health safety in AI systems. For context, consumer chatbots typically top out around 65 on the same test.

That 30-point gap matters because AI therapy tools have faced serious criticism for giving harmful advice or mishandling crisis situations. A higher safety score suggests The Path's model has been specifically trained to recognize and appropriately respond to sensitive mental health scenarios.

This launch comes as AI therapy bots are gaining traction but also raising red flags among mental health professionals. The question isn't whether AI can supplement therapy, it's whether these tools can consistently avoid causing harm.

For anyone considering AI mental health tools, this benchmark score offers at least one data point to evaluate safety. But it's worth remembering that a test score isn't the same as real-world performance with actual users in crisis.

The Path's positioning suggests the market is maturing beyond just building conversational AI. Companies are now competing on safety metrics, which is exactly the kind of scrutiny this space needs.