'It cannot provide nuance': UK experts warn AI therapy chatbots are not safe

> "I personally have the belief that everyone should probably have a therapist,” he said last week. “It’s like someone they can just talk to throughout the day, or not necessarily throughout the day, but about whatever issues they’re worried about and for people who don’t have a person who’s a therapist, I think everyone will have an AI.”

He seems so desperate to sell AI that he forgot such thing already exists. It's called family or a close friend.

I know there are people who truly have no one and they could benefit from a therapist. Having them rely on AI could prove risky specially if the person is suffering from depression. What if AI pushes them towards committing suicide? And I'll probably be told that OpenAI or Meta or MS can put guardrails against this. What happens when that fails (and we've seen it fail)? Who'll be held accountable? Does an LLM take the hippocratic oath? Are we actually abandoning all standards in favour of Mark Zuckerberg making more billions of dollars?

> It's called family or a close friend.

It's good you are socially privileged, but a lot of people do not have someone close who they can feel secure to confide in. Even a therapist doesn't help here, as a lot of people have pre-existing conditionings about what a therapist is "I'm not crazy, why do I need a therapist?".

Case in point, my father's cousin lived alone and didn't have any friends. He lived in the same house his whole life, just outside London by himself, with no indoor toilet or hot water. A few years ago, social services came after the neighbours called, because his roof collapsed and he was just living as if nothing was wrong. My father was his closest living family, but they'd not spoken in 20 years or more.

I feel this kind of thing is more common than you think. Especially with older people, they may have friends from the outside, but they aren't close with them that they can talk about whatever is on their mind.

I did address the fact that not everyone has a family or a close friend.

What you described isn't a good fit for using AI. What would an LLM do for him?

The fact his roof collapsed and he didn't think much of it indicates a deeper problem only a human can begin to tackle.

We really shouldn't be solving deep societal problems by throwing more tech at them. That experiment has already failed.

Having arms and legs isn't "physically privileged". If one is unable to create and maintain relationships then they likely have some cocktail of physical and mental disabilities. Most functioning adults can go to a bar.

The point being fixing your own life is going to bring much more in the way of benefits than the government or Sam trying to fix it for you. If one are a complete social reject then no amount of AGI will save them. People without close relationships are zombies that walk among us, in most ways they are already dead.

Ultimately what therapists do is lead you through an exploration of yourself, in which you actually do all of the work.

I 100% do not doubt the usefulness of therapy for those who are suffering in some way, but I feel like the idea that "everyone should probably have a therapist" is kinda odd - if you're generally in a good place, you can explore your feelings/motivations yourself with little risk.

I mean, the article addresses exactly your point like one line down?

> In a separate interview last week, Zuckerberg said “the average American has three friends, but has demand for 15” and AI could plug that gap.

And I think we should definitely look on this tech with scrutiny, but I think another angle to look at it is: which is worse? No therapy or AI therapy? You mention suicide, but which would result in a reduction in suicide attempts, a or b? I don't have an answer, but I could see it being possible that because AI therapy provides cheaper, more frequent access to mental care, even if it is lower quality, it could result in a net improvement over the status quo on something like suicide attempts.

I bet talking to stranger in the bar will do more harm than talking to the free version of chatgpt.