Using AI for therapy

AI can be a valuable way to think things through.

It can offer suggestions and help release some anxiety while you’re explaining your concerns to it. It’s available 24/7 and doesn’t get tired, frustrated, annoyed, or violent.

But because it’s endlessly supportive, tends not to challenge and isn’t human, it’s not an effective substitute for a good therapist. This 24/7 supportiveness might ultimately make it harder for you to put up with the inevitable uncertainties of real human relationships. So reliance on an AI for support may end up making it harder for you to build real connections with other humans.

The widespread use of AI is so new that as a society we don’t yet know the extent of its long term effects on us. But we know that early human relationships affect our patterns in subsequent relationships. I think AI could do this too. The risk is that we get out of practice at the complexity of human contact and wind up more isolated, defensive and anxious.

Building up our capacity to be together with others, and navigate difficult feelings with them, is a vital part of the therapeutic experience.