[Opinion Piece] Ethics expert explains why a chatbot therapist could be worse than no therapist at all

Nir Eisikovits, who studies ethics at UMass Boston, is talking about using AI chatbots for therapy. Some people are using these chatbots to train therapists or even as therapists themselves. This is because there aren't enough human therapists to help everyone who needs it. Eisikovits says that while chatbots can be helpful for some things, like scheduling or early warning signs, using them as actual therapists is tricky. He worries that people might think they have a real relationship with a chatbot, even though the chatbot can't really care about them. He also thinks that using chatbots for therapy might teach people the wrong ideas about what real relationships are like. Even though chatbot therapy might be better than no therapy at all, Eisikovits is concerned about what might happen if people get too used to having perfect, always-available "relationships" with AI.

by Claude 3.5 Sonnet