Co-Author: Andrew Clark, MD

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have introduced powerful, easily accessible tools for a rapidly expanding range of uses. Among those uses are specialized chatbots that serve in the role of a therapist, intended as either adjuncts to or simulations of work with a real-life therapist. Recently teenagers and young adults have begun to engage in large numbers with AI-based therapists and therapy-equipped companions, outpacing efforts at regulation or containment.

Opinions about the effectiveness and safety of therapy chatbots for teenagers appear to be highly polarized and perhaps reflective of individuals’ attitudes toward disruptive new technologies in general. Advocates tout the ease and affordability of such services in the context of widespread shortages of mental health services and high levels of need, while critics point out the inferior quality of the interaction, the potential for dependency, and the lack of oversight or accountability. Most of these opinions are grounded on hypothetical presumptions, however, as there is very little empirical data as to the functioning, let alone the impact, of these online experiences.

Overall, AI therapy with teenagers is a solitary, unregulated encounter between an adolescent and an AI model, and it proceeds with substantially fewer safeguards than does therapy in real life.

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist with a long career working with troubled teens, I (Andy Clark) was curious as to how well, or poorly, these digital therapists functioned. I decided, therefore, to

© Psychology Today