Can AI Be Your Therapist? The Truth About Digital Mental Health | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G

Can AI Be Your Therapist? The Truth About Digital Mental Health | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G

When Chad GPT launched in 2022, it startled the world with its ability to emulate human language. It became the fastest growing platform in history. Since then, Chad GPT has become increasingly commonplace, not just as a poem writer or a math helper, but also as a personal cheerleader, a life coach, and even a therapist. Millions of people are turning to Chat GPT for emotional support. They’re sharing personal experiences, private thoughts with the AI chatbot. And in turn, the bot is giving them advice or what many are calling AI therapy. Now, as you already know, traditional therapy comes in different forms, but it shares a common feature. Therapy is a safe space, but that’s not the case with AI therapy. In fact, Sam Alman has sounded an alarm about it. He is the top boss of OpenAI, the parent company of Chad GPT. He says that your private therapy sessions with Chad GPT are not always private. If you have conversations with Chad GPT, OpenAI staff can read the messages. They may even have to share the conversations. For instance, during legal proceedings in case of a lawsuit, tech companies are often asked for user data. And if that happens with Chad GPT, Altman says those therapy style conversations will have to be shared. They will not have legal protections like with physical real therapy sessions which come with some degree of privacy and doctor patient confidentiality. And these problems are not limited to Chad GPD. Of course, in recent years, a huge spectrum of chat bots has emerged. Some are generic like Chad GPT. There are also tens of thousands of chat bots specifically built for AI therapy. The popular ones have more than a million downloads a piece. Some bots offer different therapist personas. Everything from patients to optimism. And if this is not enough, you can also have AI psychologists that impersonate celebrities like a supportive Beyonce or a caring Shah Ruk Khan. Of course, none of it is real, but there is a huge demand for it. About 28% people who use AI have utilized it for therapy. 28%. And it is easy to see why traditional therapy can be expensive. AI is cheap, if not completely free. Even the most devoted therapist has to eat, sleep, or see other patients. But AI is available 24/7. Traditional treatment can take months, even years. But AI can offer quick solutions. Plus, traditional therapy is hard work. You have to deal with people. You have to build trust, share intimate details. But with AI, it is all too convenient. Some see this as a good thing. Especially the AI hype squad who say that this can alleviate the healthc care burden. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg has joined this chorus. The Meta CEO says everyone should have an AI therapist. Now, this is the same man who wants everyone to have AI friends as well. But that aside, does he have a point? Can AI replace human therapists? Should AI replace human therapists? Before you decide, here is a the worrying flip side. The AI champions gloss over. In 2022, a user wrote that she wanted to jump off a canyon. A popular therapy bot called it and I’m quoting wonderful. Last year a teen killed himself allegedly after becoming too attached to a chatbot. Now these are of course worst case scenarios. Even so AI is not built to tackle emotional needs by design. It is built using an approach called mirroring. And that means that AI models mirror or copy user behavior. They agree with us. They validate us. They amplify our delusions. And experts say this can be very risky. It can make us lose touch with reality driving many people to psychosis because this is not therapy. This is psychopensy. You see, therapy is a two-way street. Therapists do not just make people feel secure. They also challenge patients. They call them out. If AI always agrees with us, it is not a therapist. It is an enabler. So, while we look to AI for advice, we should remember this. Not everything can be outsourced, especially not emotions. First post now available in nine languages on YouTube. English $36 trillion French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish. Go to settings, click on audio track, and select the language of your choice. Be the first to know what’s happening around you in your first language. First boost.

Millions are now turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for emotional support, from therapy-like advice to late-night pep talks. But what happens when your deepest secrets are shared with a machine? In this report, we explore the rise of AI therapy, the privacy risks warned by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and the serious concerns raised by experts, including emotional harm, misdiagnoses, and even psychosis. With celebrity-inspired chatbot therapists and 24/7 support, is this the future of mental health care or a dangerous illusion of it?

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AI Chatbots | ChatGPT | Open AI | Mental Health | Therapist | Firstpost | World News | News Live | Vantage | Palki Sharma | News

#aichatbots #mentalhealth #chatgpt #therapist #firstpost #vantageonfirstpost #palkisharma #worldnews

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