Mental health experts warn chatbots can’t replace human connections

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - As artificial intelligence enters more areas of our lives, behavioral health experts warn about relying on it for mental health advice.

A California family is actually suing, saying ChatGPT contributed to their son’s suicide.

Mental health experts say having AI put help in the palm of your hand is not always a good thing.

Dr. Abby Callis, a clinical psychologist at Stormont Vail Behavioral Health in Topeka, has been following the research.

“In the early stages of use of AI, it can reduce loneliness, but with prolonged use, especially if you use a voice-based chatbot, it will increase loneliness,” she said.

Dr. Callis says studies show the more we use AI, the less we use our own critical thinking skills.

“We start to trust it or just do what it says rather than making our own critical-thinking decisions and that’s concerning,” she said. “(Critical thinking is) how humans make decisions. We have context. We have history. We have understanding and we can’t make those decisions without taking in information.”

Dr. Callis says AI uses algorithms and information we input in order to formulate responses, which means it might create only what it thinks you want to see - and it could be wrong.

Some AI is trained to recognize keywords - like suicide - and direct you to resources. But it doesn’t follow up to help you follow through.

“It can be an initial reach out. The trick is that it’s designed to mimic human interaction. That’s what AI is,” Dr. Callis said. “If we get too far down that path, we start to interact with it as if it is a full human capable of giving us responses with context and it is not.”

Dr. Callis said if someone asked for the tallest bridge in their city, she as a therapist would question why the person made the request, while AI would simply generate the answer.

“If we enter some information and said we did this really hard thing, it might praise us for being brave and trying something that was difficult without recognizing the context clues that we shouldn’t have doing that in the first place,” she said.

Dr. Callis said we have to remind ourselves that artificial intelligence is just that: artificial.

“It is not a human. It cannot know you in the way another human can,” she said.

Dr. Callis said some therapists will use AI with clients for things like journaling and developing coping skills. However, the client then returns to discuss it with the therapist in person.

Find mental health resources at wibw.com/HearMeSeeMe.