Say 'hi' to your new AI therapist

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Can AI chatbots ever replace human therapists? By Jamie Ducharme Health Correspondent In the depths of the pandemic, when in-person health care was reserved for emergencies, I began seeing a therapist online. It felt strange to me then, the idea of confiding in someone I’d only met through a screen—but teletherapy now feels routine to me, as it likely does to the millions of people who use it regularly. And yet, data suggest many Americans still have reservations about certain aspects of tech-assisted mental-health care—maybe not so much video-chat sessions, but certainly the widening pool of apps and chatbots that use artificial intelligence. In one recent survey, about 80% of U.S. adults said they definitely did not want to mix AI and mental-health care. It’s hard to say exactly why. But one possible reason, experts told me, is that there's an inherently human quality to therapy that it’s difficult to imagine an algorithm ever duplicating. “Maybe psychotherapy is not really about a particular technique,” one researcher said. “Maybe it’s about co-creating a context in which someone might be growing as a person, exploring themselves, maybe facing existential fears, having someone with whom they can speak about [difficult topics].” READ MORE Share This Story

What Else to Read What’s At Stake With the Kaiser Permanente Heath Care Strike By Haley Weiss Unions behind the biggest health care strike in U.S. history blame staffing shortages for poor patient care and difficult working conditions. Read More » Who Gets to Sue Hotels Over Disability Access? Supreme Court to Decide By MARK SHERMAN / AP The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a case Oct. 4 that could limit the ability to sue hotels for not accommodating disabled customers. Read More » Will the New COVID-19 Vaccine Work Against the BA.2.86 Variant? By Alice Park An updated COVID-19 vaccine is expected in September, but new variants like BA.2.86 are already spreading in the U.S. Read More » Why Everyone’s Worried About Their Attention Span—and How to Improve Yours By Jamie Ducharme And what to do about your own attention span Read More » The Data Don’t Really Support the Most Popular Happiness Strategies By Alice Park An in-depth look at the evidence behind the most popular happiness hacks isn't very reassuring, saying studies lack good data. Read More »

ONE LAST READ Indigenous women in Greenland say they were forced to get IUDs as children Dozens of women from Indigenous communities in Greenland are demanding compensation from the Danish government for allegedly suffering forced insertion of intrauterine devices in the 1960s and 70s. “It was the worst thing I have experienced in my life,” Naja Lyberth told New York Times reporter Isabella Kwai. “I could not tell anyone because of shame and guilt and the fear of being judged by others.”   Read More »

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