| Sumario: | The article examines the phenomenon of "deresponsibilization" in mobile health (mHealth) technologies, defined as the shifting away of responsibility and accountability from traditional healthcare actors to less accountable entities. It highlights how mHealth developers exploit regulatory gaps by marketing some medical intervention technologies as general wellness products to avoid stringent oversight, thereby evading obligations for safety and efficacy. The emergence of roles like digital navigators and peer listeners, who lack formal medical training and clear accountability, further exemplifies this shift away from established clinical responsibilities. Additionally, unregulated mental health chatbots contribute to deresponsibilization by replacing clinicians with AI systems that cannot bear normative obligations or be held accountable. Overall, the article argues that this systemic erosion of responsibility, driven by neoliberal and technological forces, places undue burden on patients to manage their health amid a proliferation of inadequately regulated tools and actors.
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