The Inconvenient Truth about AI Therapy Why the Chatbots Can Never Understand the Nature of Life on Earth – Muhammad U. Faruque
Imagine an adolescent going through a difficult time. Fearing judgment, she does not confide in friends or family. But since she feels lonely, she does decide to reach out to something inexpensive, nonjudgmental, and available even at 2:00 a.m.: generative artificial intelligence (AI). She expresses concern to the AI chatbot that social media has damaged her ability to focus because she compulsively scrolls to escape boredom, stress, and loneliness. Through exchanges with the AI “therapist,” she recognizes how constant digital stimulation leaves her feeling mentally exhausted, disconnected, and uncomfortably empty inside. The AI chatbot encourages her to engage in small practices to restore her peace of mind, and it emphasizes that lasting well-being depends not only on managing her use of technology but also on rebuilding meaningful human relationships and overcoming isolation. While this advice seems sensible on the surface, it misses a lot, as we will see.
Nevertheless, reports show that the top ten generative AI use cases in 2025 reflected a shiſt from technical to emotional applications, especially in areas such as therapy and personal development. 1 This affirms findings that the use of AI therapy apps has exploded, especially among adolescents and young adults. 2 Remarkably, AI is no longer confined to tasks such as information retrieval, coding, scheduling, and automation and is being used in emotionally intimate and therapeutic contexts. For instance, the UK’s National Health Service has enlisted Wysa, an AI-powered mental health chatbot, to support therapy. 3 PARO, a therapeutic baby seal robot developed in Japan, is being used in hospitals and nursing homes to comfort patients through touch responsiveness and affectionate interaction, AI companion robot for the elderly, has been deployed through health-care and aging-care systems, including the New York State Office for the Aging.
