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Kelly's avatar

Thank you for this important story. I'm glad your loved on was able to access the help they needed. I recently saw a Tik Tok by a therapist who had reviewed transcripts of her patients' interactions with chatbots. She found that genAI was great at offering support in an empathetic-sounding way. However, what was missing was any challenge or pushbusk. A skilled therapist can hear what isn't being said and identify the right moment and right approach to challenge a client's narrative or help them see another perspective. A person in crisis might need unqualified support--to feel like "someone" is "listening" and validating their experience, which gen AI is apparently great at. But growth only happens when we are able to see beyond our immediate experience, to move beyond our entrenched beliefs, which genAI doesn't seem well equipped for. I think about this a lot as many colleges lean more heavily on AI tools to make up for shortfalls in the mental health resources they are able to provide for students.

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John Gardner's avatar

Thank you for this post Ben - a very important area for further research and policy consideration too. Best wishes

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