‘I can cry without feeling stigma’: meet the people turning to AI chatbots for therapy
www.theguardian.com
It’s cheap, quick and available 24/7, but is a chatbot therapist really the right tool to tackle complex emotional needs?

It’s cheap, quick and available 24/7, but is a chatbot therapist really the right tool to tackle complex emotional needs?

  • Just_Pizza_Crust@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    9 months ago

    I’m not sure why, but you seem to have posted this yesterday but it didn’t show up until an hour ago. Your instance may be having some issues.

    I do get where you’re coming from with all that, but the act of going to therapy itself is an achievement a patient can benefit from, and should be considered from the start. If that truly isn’t possible for someone, voice calls from a real therapist are a reasonable next step.

    Also, the original question was, “Can AI replace therapists?”. I can see some meaningful benefits coming from an AI assisting a therapist, but that’s not what I was getting at. AI alone really just feels like a bandaid on a bullet wound, when applying pressure or a tourniquet is also available.

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
      2·
      9 months ago

      No, the original question is “can AI therapists do better than the real thing?” And yes, they can do better at specific things. That doesn’t make them a replacement, though.

      Bandaids aren’t much use for a bullet wound, but bandaids are still good to have and useful in other situations. You wouldn’t use a tourinquet for a papercut.