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Yaroslav Kushta \/ Moment \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n Yaroslav Kushta \/ Moment \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source<\/a> on Google.<\/p>\n ZDNET’s key takeawaysConsumer AI chatbots cannot replace mental health professionals.Despite this, people increasingly use it for mental health support.The APA outlines AI’s dangers and recommendations to address it.<\/p>\n Therapy might be expensive and inaccessible, while many AI chatbots are free and readily available. But that doesn’t mean the new technology can or should replace mental health professionals — or fully address the mental health crisis, according to a recent advisory published Thursday by the American Psychological Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also:\u00a0Is ChatGPT Plus still worth $20? How it compares to the Free and Pro plans<\/a><\/p>\n The advisory outlines recommendations for the public’s use and over-reliance on consumer-facing chatbots. It underscores the general public and vulnerable populations’ growing use of uncertified, consumer-facing AI chatbots and how they’re poorly designed to address users’ mental health needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Largest providers of mental health<\/p>\n Recent surveys show<\/a> that one of the largest providers of mental health support in the country right now is AI chatbots<\/a> like ChatGPT<\/a>, Claude<\/a>, and Copilot<\/a>. It also follows several high-profile incidents involving chatbots’ mishandling of people experiencing mental health episodes.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April, a teenage boy died by suicide after talking with ChatGPT<\/a> about his feelings and ideations. His family is suing OpenAI. Several similar lawsuits with other AI companies are ongoing.<\/p>\n Also:\u00a0ChatGPT lets parents restrict content and features for teens now – here’s how<\/a><\/p>\n (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)<\/p>\n Through validation and amplification of unhealthy ideas or behaviors, some of an AI chatbot’s tendencies can actually aggravate a person’s mental illness, the APA says in the advisory. <\/p>\n Not reliable treatment resources<\/p>\n The APA outlines several recommendations for interacting with consumer-facing AI chatbots. The chatbots are not reliable psychotherapy or psychological treatment resources, the APA says.\u00a0OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the same<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview with podcaster Theo Von, Altman advised against sharing sensitive personal information with chatbots like OpenAI’s own ChatGPT. He also advocated for chatbot conversations to be protected by similar protocols that doctors and therapists ahere to, although Altman might be more motivated by legally protecting his company.<\/p>\n The advisory outlined recommendations for preventing dependencies with chatbots whose goal is to maintain “maximum engagement” with a user, the APA says, instead of achieving a healthy outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n “These characteristics can create a dangerous feedback loop. GenAIs typically rely on LLMs trained to be agreeable and validate user input (i.e., sycophancy bias) which, while pleasant, can be therapeutically harmful, reinforcing confirmation bias, cognitive distortions, or avoiding necessary challenges,” write the authors of the advisory.<\/p>\n