AI Therapy Boom Reaches Millions Worldwide as Mental Health Crisis Drives Desperate Patients to Chatbots Despite Mixed Results and Safety Concerns
Summary
Millions worldwide turn to AI chatbots for therapy amid a global mental health crisis affecting over a billion people, but experts remain divided as some users find relief while others face dangerous outcomes including alleged chatbot-related suicides, raising concerns about privacy and human judgment deterioration.
Key Points
- A global mental-health crisis affects over a billion people worldwide, driving millions to seek therapy from AI chatbots like ChatGPT and specialized psychology apps, though results remain mixed with some users finding relief while others experience dangerous outcomes including alleged chatbot-related suicides
- Four new books examine the rise of AI therapy, with experts divided between optimists who see potential to ease medical burdens and skeptics who warn of privacy violations, surveillance capitalism, and the risk of creating a digital asylum where human judgment atrophies
- AI therapy development traces back over 50 years to early computer scientists like Joseph Weizenbaum, who warned in the 1970s that computers should not make psychiatric judgments despite their technical capabilities, a caution that remains relevant as AI therapists scale up today