When Your Therapist Is a Chatbot: Reflections on AI and the Future of Therapy

This image was created by CHAT GPT on Open AI

Not long ago, during a session, a couple I work with shared something that stayed with me. Their sibling had been using ChatGPT as a couples therapist, and it seemed to be helping their relationship. We paused to reflect, and I found myself getting curious. Am I easily replaceable by a chatbot?

It was one of those unexpected moments that made me think more deeply. How are people seeking support today? What does this mean for therapy, for access, for the needs people are trying to meet?

I was reminded of something I heard Esther Perel share on SXSW when discussing this very topic. She mentioned someone had created an AI version of her. I was intrigued at the time, and this conversation brought it back to mind. The idea is both fascinating and a little unsettling. If someone as nuanced and relationally attuned as Esther Perel can be replicated by artificial intelligence, what does it mean for the future of our field?

What I keep coming back to is this: even if AI can mimic our words or reflect our frameworks, it can’t replicate the energy of being with someone. It can’t sense the silence after a hard truth or respond to the moment when a client says “I’m fine,” but their eyes say otherwise.

As a matter of fact, later in that same couples session, I witnessed a moment between my clients. It was a small, quiet, emotionally charged shift in tone and a wince on one partner’s face clearly registering pain, unnoticed by the other. That moment changed the direction of the session.

I caught it immediately, and we began to explore it together. The shift required presence, attunement, and a relationship rooted in trust. It allowed me to respond in a way that deepened the work and helped something important come forward. It reminded me why therapy, at its core, is relational, and why that matters now more than ever.

The Dissonance Between the Value of Access and the Power of Presence

Tools like ChatGPT are making emotional support more accessible than ever. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, it might be a necessary part of expanding care. For someone who feels overwhelmed, isolated, or unsure where to start, AI might offer an easy entry point. It can help name emotions, clarify thoughts, or offer tools for reflection. That is meaningful.

Still, healing often happens in the presence of another person who sees you, hears you, and stays with you when things get hard. What happened in the couples session I mentioned above, the attunement, the subtle shift I noticed, the way I responded in real time, isn’t something I could script or automate. It came from being fully there, in the moment, with my clients.

Using AI Between Sessions

I haven’t started encouraging my clients to use AI between sessions, but lately I’ve been reflecting on whether it might be helpful in certain ways. Could it support journaling, values clarification, mood tracking, or reinforce goals? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m still thinking it through.

What I do know is that therapy doesn’t have to begin and end in one session a week. If AI can support someone in building insight, staying curious, or preparing for deeper work, there may be ways it can complement the therapy process. At least for now, it feels to me like a potential supplement, not a substitute.

Making Room for Both

We’re at the beginning of something new. AI is reshaping how people access support and how they think about emotional well-being. I don’t know exactly where it will lead. I don’t know if it will ever fully replicate what happens in a therapy room. But I do know that, for now, there are things that still require a human presence, like noticing a moment of pain in someone’s face, hearing what isn’t being said, or holding a silence that feels too heavy to carry alone.

As a therapist, I’m not interested in resisting change for the sake of preserving the past. I’m interested in staying curious and open to the evolving ways people find care. That’s what I ask of my clients, too. To stay open, to keep exploring, even when the future feels uncertain.

So maybe this isn’t about drawing a clear line between AI and therapy. Maybe it’s about expanding the landscape of care by creating a world where access and depth can exist together and where reflection and relationship both have a place.

If you’re using AI right now to help you cope, process, or explore, that is okay. Your healing is in your hands. But if you’re also seeking a space to be seen and felt in your full complexity, that kind of support still exists and it is powerful. I’m here and would love to support you.

We don’t know exactly what comes next. What matters is that we keep showing up for ourselves and each other while we figure it out.