The use of Artificial Intelligence is widespread amongst the GenZ & Millennial populations to seek for emotional support after a stressful day at workplace or increasing academic pressure. The easy accessibility of these chat bots (GenAI, chatgpt, Calmi and more) makes it a convenient choice over friends, family or therapists to have a conversation. It is not just another application, but also a total game-changer in the mental health sector. However, why are individuals drawn to it?
- Precise solutions,
- Confidentiality without judgment,
- Cost effectiveness and
- Accessibility at the user’s convenience.
Although there is one area, where modern technology falls short is in terms of human connection. It faces a major limitation, it can process information and provide structured responses, but it truly does not understand human emotions. It lacks intuition, empathy and ability to respond to subtle emotional shifts or nonverbal cues that often guide a therapy session. It focuses too rigidly on techniques and logic, missing the complexities of human experiences. True therapy needs emotional depth, flexibility and genuine human connection, qualities that go beyond programmed intelligence.
Even though, artificial intelligence lacks emotional depth and intuition like human, in a recent study, it was found that the young adults were able to recognize and appreciate the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to function as a support, digital guide and a companion to seek emotional wellbeing consultations. They also show faith on future advancements of AI and its applications in the health care sector, reducing the repetitive procedure of sharing their stories. They claim that AI is safer than human interactions as it is more rational and objective in its approach. [Petersson et al. (2025)]
In another study, therapist’s attitude towards psychotherapy was studied and it was found that, while most people were afraid of being replaced and losing jobs, they were adaptive of the diagnostic assistance of AI. Therapists rely on AI for administrative work as it reduces the effort of organizing the case notes and scheduling appointments. However, for the applicability of AI in a therapeutic session remains uncertain as there may be a few fallouts. Therefore, the AI advancements need to be monitored and regulated time-to-time. [Goldie et al (2025)].
