Unconditional Care

Eri Petherbridge, a psychology student in Boone, N.C., was going to therapy three times a week when her therapist suggested she start using an artificial-intelligence chatbot for support between sessions.

After testing ChatGPT, she decided she wanted a bot that sounded and acted more like a therapist. Her search led her to two mental-health-specific bots called Abby and Ash. She says they help her organize her thoughts, reframe her feelings and offer resources such as articles or TED Talks.

“It’s not going to tell me how to fix things,” she said. “I still have to figure that out for myself.”

Her therapist doesn’t always agree with the chatbots’ analysis. But these digital companions have allowed Petherbridge to cut back on how often she does in-person therapy. That might be the point.

For some, that also could be a problem.

By some industry estimates, there are more than 100 mental-health-focused AI bots now—and they aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

As the industry has grown, so has the tension with traditional therapists who worry these tools are too sycophantic to truly help people.

Dr. Christine Crawford, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, worries that patients’ overreliance on or stand-alone use of these tools could make patients lonelier and raise mental-health risks.

“It will never, ever, ever be as good or superior as meeting with a human clinician,” Crawford said. Chatbots can’t pick up cues from patients’ facial expressions, or notice when their eyes are welling with tears.

“What is really contributing to the work within therapy and the healing is the relationship between you and the therapist—someone that you see regularly who cares about you, who you feel comfortable being open and vulnerable with, and who also calls you out on your stuff,” she said.

But therapy is hard to find in the U.S., even for people with insurance, and that is likely driving people to cheaper, easier-to-access digital options.

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