A Therapist Reflects on the Future of Her Field

A few weeks ago while traveling for the holidays, I encountered a brand new phobia. I can’t fault the plane ride this time. Only light turbulence jostled our cabin that night. But a strange fear unrelated to flying washed over me:

Will artificial intelligence eventually replace my job?

Allow me to step back and set the scene. Picture me, a weary therapist, squished into the dreaded middle seat in Row 8, reading a novel and dreaming of dinner plans at my destination. About 30 minutes before landing, the passenger on my left strikes up friendly chat about the weather, our shared destination, and the frustrations of finding the perfect holiday gifts for relatives. This stranger was of an older generation than my own and our conversation shifted from holiday gifts to the rapidly changing pace of technological advances.

“Did you hear about…”

“The new AI chat room?!”

“Yes!”

The passenger pulled out their phone, typed in the landing page address, and together we stared in amazement as the user-friendly chat bot responded to our questions in seconds. It predicted the score for upcoming sports games, suggested meal ideas for the next week (with a shopping list included), and scripted funny jokes to tell at holiday parties all before our plan ever hit the runway.We sat there astonished as accurate and comprehensive material assembled before our very eyes. Inwardly, I cheered for students around the world whose final papers for the fall semester suddenly became significantly easier to complete. But outwardly, I wondered about the impact artificial intelligence could have on our ability to connect with each other. I expressed optimism that our humanity would become even more valuable in an AI-augmented future. My fellow passenger was a bit more concerned about the ways AI would drive us further apart.

They didn’t know the homework I’d already done.

I learned about this very chatbot on December 11, 2022, ten days after it was made available to the public. By December 29th, it was already nearing the one million user mark. For comparison, it took Facebook 10 months to reach that same figure. When I signed up to chat, I was admittedly a little nervous about the outcome and my very first AI exchange went as follows:

Lacy: Hi!

ChatGPT: Hello! How can I help you today? Is there something you need to know or a question you want to ask? I’m here to assist you with any information or guidance you may need. Just let me know and I’ll do my best to provide the information or answer you’re looking for.

Lacy: I don’t need any help. I want to connect with you!

ChatGPT: Thank you for your interest in connecting with me. As a large language model trained by OpenAI, I’m not capable of forming personal connections with people. I’m here to provide information and answer questions to the best of my abilities. Is there anything in particular you would like to know or discuss? I’m here to help in any way I can.

As I read this chatbot’s speedy replies and sensed we were reaching an impasse, I wouldn’t let it off the hook quite so fast. I pressed it again about its ability to form connections and ask a couple follow up questions. Unphased by my persistence, the tool reiterated that it doesn’t have the ability to think, feel, or experience in the same way that humans do. “I’m not a person,” replies the bot with super-human speed, “and I don’t have the capacity to form personal connections or any other kind of connections.”

It took me a few minutes with a novel form of artificial intelligence to remember:

Human connection is fundamentally irreplaceable.

Human beings still haven’t created an adequate substitute for our essential need to be connected to one another. My hunch is we never will. Long term research studies continue to confirm to the central importance of healthy human relationships for our overall quality of life. And that’s where a therapist’s line of work comes in. How do we assess and improve the quality of our human relationships? How do we know when they are fulfilling? Distressing? Equitable? Unbalanced? Can we tell when relationships offer room to expand and grow into new possibilities? What about connections that rely on control, punishment, and coercion to maintain power?

These are the kinds of questions that artificial intelligence, by its own admission, is ill-equipped to explore. And while AI may augment therapeutic practice with all sorts of information at our fingertips, the therapist’s field of practice is a human one.

Talking with this stranger was an immediate antidote to panic. But artificial intelligence may have its place. It can provide concentrated and coherent information as quickly as our fingers can type a question. In therapeutic deserts without access to affordable mental health care, psychoeducation like this could be lifeline.

So, will AI replace therapy? It feels only appropriate to let the chatbot have the floor:

In case you didn’t quite catch the closing paragraph (it’s fast, right?!), here it is again:

Overall, while AI has the potential to augment therapy and improve access to mental health services, it is unlikely to completely replace humans in the near future. It is important that any efforts to incorporate AI into the field of therapy are done with caution and with the goal of augmenting and improving, rather than replacing, human care.

Straight from the chatbot’s mouth comes an answer that this therapist, at least for now, can happily live with.