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Sometimes, the process of gathering our thoughts enough to article them into a prompt is where the benefit is. AI as the rubber duck has a lot of value. Understanding that this is what’s needed vs. something deeper, is beyond the scope of what AI can handle.

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And that’s fine as long as the person using it has a sophisticated understanding of the technology and a company isn’t selling it as a “therapist”.

When an AI therapist from a health startup confirms that a mentally disturbed person is indeed hearing voices from God, or an insecure teenager uses meta AI as a therapist because Mark Zuckerberg said they should and it agrees with them that yes they are unloveable, then we have a problem.

That last 20% of “missing nuance” is really important if someone is in that state! For the rest of us, the value of an AI therapist roughly matches journaling.

If it's about gathering our thoughts, there's meditation. Or journaling. Or prayer. Some have even claimed that there is an all-powerful being listening to you on the other side with that last one. (One might even call it an intelligence, just not an artificial one.)

There's also talking to a friend. Sure, they could also steer you wrong, but at least they won't be impersonating a therapist, and they won't be doing it to try to please their investors.

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