State lawmakers, therapists sound the alarm on AI therapists

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — A new bill at the state house would ban therapy delivered by artificial intelligence.

A quick search of the internet and you can find dozens of AI chatbots, advertising themselves as free resources to help cope with everything from loneliness and depression to addiction and loss.

The services are presented as well-intentioned, often free, tools for people looking for someone to talk to, but licensed professional counselor Kristen Groos, owner of the Connections Counseling Center on Daniel Island, says don’t be fooled.

“AI often just tells you what you want to hear, which doesn’t often help us grow,” Groos said. “This is a constant issue in therapy for counselors in training, and I supervise counselors, and so what I’m always telling them is therapy is a combination of comfort but also challenge.”

She says therapy is quintessentially a human experience, something robots and AI can’t replicate.

“Humans are necessary for therapy because it’s inherently relational. Most people who deal with anxiety and depression, and at the root, it’s a relational issue, so you need a relational solution,” Groos said. “They [AI programs] have the theories, they have some of the basics, but they can’t read body language, they can’t read tone, and they don’t develop a relationship with you the same way a human does. When a patient comes in or a client comes into my office, we’re getting to know each other at truly a human level that a robot just can never duplicate.”

She says there’s also an ethics concern. Therapists are bound by a strict code of ethics that heavily influences the types of notes and data they keep. Free, online AI therapists don’t have any problem with storing all of the data you give them and even possibly selling that data to turn a profit.

Some robots get it. For example, if you ask Amazon’s smart hub Alexa if she could be your therapist, she will respond with, “I am definitely not qualified to…

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