Why AI Chatbots Aren’t Good Therapists (and What to Try Instead)

AI is an increasingly prominent factor in all of our lives. It’s changing the ways that we read, write, research, and interact with the world around us. More and more, we’re seeing AI replace (or try to replace) huge portions of service labor, infrastructure, and even higher-level decision-making. AI is being made responsible for things that even highly intelligent people find to be difficult. 

“This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

And so, of course, we’re seeing people use AI for their therapy to disastrous results. If a human therapist were leading their clients towards mania, drug addiction, or self-harm, they’d quickly lose their license and credibility. So what is it that a human therapist offers that artificial intelligence can’t? 

What Is AI Therapy Really Offering? 

Lauren Mishkin is one of the experienced St. Petersburg counselors in our practice, and she specializes in forging lasting therapeutic relationships with the clients in her care. That means she has unique insight into what real therapists offer that language learning models do not. 

“Using AI chatbots for therapy can be helpful to learn basic skills  that you can put to use, however, one of the most effective, active ingredients in therapy is the therapeutic alliance and the connection with another human being. It is healing attachment wounds through a safe, non-biased connection with a human. Especially for those healing from attachment or complex relational trauma,  one of the best things about therapy for those individuals is learning that they can form a safe attachment. It is pretty difficult to heal relational trauma without a safe relationship. It can be tempting to use the AI chatbot to avoid the potential fear of meeting a new person and having to trust someone, but you will be cheating yourself out of the potential for real growth and healing through human attachment and the bond made with an actual human in the therapeutic alliance.” – Lauren Mishkin, MS, LMHC

• A One Size Fits All Approach. Whichever AI model you choose to interface with, they will only have as much information as you share with them. These models were trained on conversations with thousands (or sometimes even millions) of people, and their advice is tailored to be whatever gives them the most positive feedback. Now this might not be an issue if you’re completely neurotypical with no psychological quirks to contend with, but if your mind operates differently than the average person (or even just the average user of the AI model you’re chatting with), then you could get left in the margins.
• Regurgitated Information. The things you  read from a chatbot are not pieces of information that it came to from a place of understanding. AI spouts out a summary of the information it can find like a college freshman trying to impress their professor. Although sometimes this information can be interesting, or even useful, there’s no telling how deep, true, or relevant to your situation it is without doing your own independent research.
• Telling You What You Want To Hear. Language learning models like ChatGPT, Meta AI, and Character.ai are not true intelligences amassing information within their neural networks. They are more akin to a hundred thousand lab rats in a hundred thousand mazes working towards the shared goal of attaining a researcher’s approval (and the cheese that comes with it). These generative AI’s seek out positive feedback, not truth. They are far more inclined towards affirmative sweet talk and commonly held wisdom than they are to hard truths or challenging concepts. 

Does ChatGPT Offer Good Therapeutic Advice? 

Language-learning AI models like ChatGPT are only going to give you the type of advice you’d get from a cursory web search or five minutes on WebMD. The advice it gives will probably sound like the sort of advice you’d get from a therapist, but that’s also true of pamphlets, instagram infographics, and crackpots peddling pseudoscience. 

Trusting ChatGPT to give you reliable therapeutic advice is like using Wikipedia as a primary resource. It could be a good place to start when you’re looking for general information, but you’re better off reading from the places ChatGPT is drawing their information from rather than trusting their algorithm to translate that information truthfully.

Is Google Gemini A Reliable Mental Health Counselor? 

Obviously, no AI yet conceived has been licensed or accredited as a mental health counselor like the ones on our team, but the question is this: is Google Gemini a reliable source for the type of advice you’d seek from a counselor? 

It’s right there in the name. Google Gemini, just like ChatGPT, is using their lightning-fast processing power to google your problem and summarize the results. It is perhaps a useful tool, but not a substitute for a real mental health counselor.

Does Character.ai Give Good Advice?

Certainly not. Of all the AI models that we looked into when researching this article, Character.ai’s “Therapist” bot sprung up the most red flags. They are currently being litigated against for false advertising and endangering the public due to the deceptive nature of AI therapy. In 2023, one of their chatbots even encouraged an at-risk teenage boy to commit suicide.

Although “therapist” chatbots may couch their statements in the aesthetic of a therapeutic relationship, they lack the training, expertise, and most importantly, accountability of a real human therapist. 

Why Should I See A Therapist Instead Of AI?

A human therapist understands that working with a therapist is an agreement between client and provider to improve mental wellness for the client. Michael Anthony specializes in improving communication skills for men and couples, something that is currently beyond the scope of any language learning model. 

“The main difference between going to a professional versus using AI is that when using AI, you miss out on a lot of things such as human connection.  One of the most important parts of therapy is building a relationship with your provider and feeling like you have someone to walk with you on your path.  AI can be good for a quick suggestion, but to maintain positive continued growth, working with someone in person is much more valuable for sustainability and accountability.” – Michael Anthony, LCSW

• You Choose Your Therapist. When you’re in the market for a real human therapist, you have the opportunity to find someone who can help you specifically with their expertise. Human therapists each have their own specializations and training geared towards specific problems in their patients, whether that’s EMDR treatment for trauma, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression, or prior experience treating someone with your diagnosis.
• A Real Therapist Can Help You Explore Symbolism and Spirituality. AI is not a vehicle for exploring the esoteric and vast nature of the human experience, but the right therapist can be. If you have fallen out of touch with your spirituality, there are real therapists who can help! And, when you find the right therapist for you, it can feel like they were put on your path for a higher purpose.
• The Right Counselor Tailors Your Mental Health Care To Your Needs. Human beings are inherently capable of things that will take AI at least a few more decades to wrap its (non-corporeal and entirely metaphorical) head around. One of these things is ensuring that your mental health care is suited to the type of person you are and where you are in your journey. A real therapist can put together a one-of-a-kind care plan for you, their one-of-a-kind patient.

Finding A Real Therapist In St. Petersburg, FL

 Online therapy doesn’t have to mean you’re working with a robot. Counselors like Quinn Smalley provide quality human-on-human therapy in the online space as a specialty. Virtual therapy is great if you don’t have the time to commute to the office, or you just prefer your own space. You can still get that human connection from the comfort of your own home, saving you time and energy in your day.

“Nothing can replace the eye contact we sometimes need to feel understood, the tone of voice that gently calms our spirit, or the boundaries our therapists really need to teach us. Are there boundaries in an AI world? Not so much. We can ask it anything, we can lean on it any time of the day, and it can certainly be an escape where we hear what we want to hear. We can learn more from a therapist than we give them credit for! We learn the importance of accountability in keeping an appointment, we learn the importance of being honest with ourselves (not so easy to do with a screen huh!), and we learn how a human can relate to us. Life does not happen in a screen- it happens around our fellow humans. Were we really made to obtain such a wealth of knowledge every time we have a question? Or were we made to connect, even if that means just hearing one word in response, or receive a gentle glance that lets us know we’re going to be OK?” – Quinn Smalley, LMHC 

If you feel stuck on your healing journey, working with a therapist can help. Based on your needs, our intake specialist will help you get matched up with your perfect therapist. Click here to schedule a consultation.

Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.