Slingshot pulls therapy chatbot Ash out of U.K. over regulatory concerns – statnews.com

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By Mario Aguilar
Jan. 21, 2026
Health Tech Correspondent
Mario Aguilar
Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise. He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter. You can reach Mario on Signal at mariojoze.13.
Slingshot AI will withdraw its therapy chatbot app Ash from the United Kingdom this week over concerns that it runs afoul of the country’s medical device regulations.
Slingshot CEO Daniel Reid Cahn wrote in an email to users that “there isn’t a clear regulatory pathway for wellbeing products like ours — and without that clarity, we can’t operate with confidence.” He said the app will not be available after Jan. 23 and that the company is in conversations with the government on a remedy. Representatives for Slingshot did not respond to a request for comment.
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Slingshot, which has raised $93 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, has been among the most aggressive to push out a large language model-based mental health product to consumers amid broad concern that generative artificial intelligence chatbots can be dangerous for people with mental health issues.
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Mario Aguilar
Health Tech Correspondent
Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise. He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter. You can reach Mario on Signal at mariojoze.13.
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