Can AI chatbots replace human therapists? Unpacking the mental health revolution
Image: Ron
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept it's here, embedded in our daily lives, reshaping how we work, connect, and even care for our mental health.
But can a chatbot like ChatGPT truly replace a human therapist?
The question might sound far-fetched, but as the use of AI in mental health continues to grow, this debate has become urgent and deeply personal.
To explore this, I turned to Cassie Chambers, operations director at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), who offered thoughtful insights into this complex conversation.
Let's dive into the pros, cons and the bigger picture of AI's role in mental health support.
What AI can and can't offer
AI tools like ChatGPT are undeniably convenient. Available 24/7, stigma-free, and offering instant responses, they're a lifeline for people seeking immediate support.
'AI can simulate conversations, suggest coping techniques, and even provide resources like breathing exercises or links to helpful videos," Chambers explains.
"But it cannot replicate the deep empathy, compassion, and authentic human connection that come from a skilled therapist.'
Human therapists bring something irreplaceable: the ability to read subtle cues like tone, body language and even those heavy pauses that convey unspoken emotions.
'Therapists rely on intuition, warmth, and their own lived experiences, Chambers says. "This creates a healing relationship built on trust, shared humanity and vulnerability, something no algorithm can fully replicate.'
The wake-up call for traditional therapy
AI's growing popularity highlights gaps in the traditional mental health care model. People want flexibility, affordability, and immediate support qualities often missing in conventional therapy.
'When someone is in crisis, they can't always wait weeks for an appointment,' Chambers notes. 'Traditional models need to evolve to meet these changing demands.'
AI offers an accessible, user-friendly option. It's as simple as opening an app or sending a message, making support available when and where people need it most. SADAG, for example, has embraced a hybrid approach, offering both human-led support groups and digital tools to reach people on their terms.
Therapists rely on intuition, warmth, and their own lived experiences. This creates a healing relationship built on trust, shared humanity, and vulnerability something no algorithm can fully replicate.
Image: Pexels
The bigger question: What does this say about us?
Perhaps the most thought-provoking aspect of this debate isn't about AI replacing therapists, but what it reveals about human connection today.
Chambers reflects on how many people feel more heard and understood by AI than in their real-life relationships. She says, 'This is deeply telling. It shows how much we struggle to find safe spaces where we feel free to open up and be vulnerable.'
The pandemic only deepened this disconnect.
'Covid-19 disrupted our ability to communicate and connect," Chambers explains.
Young people, in particular, have struggled to rebuild those skills. It's like that saying: You can be in a room full of people and still feel utterly alone. While AI chatbots can simulate empathy and active listening, they can't replace the mutual connection and shared humanity of real relationships.
Research during Covid highlighted the power of a simple phone call with a loved one, which could boost mood and mental well-being as effectively as therapy.
AI can access vast amounts of data, providing insights into therapy techniques, psychological models and case studies. However, the human touch remains irreplaceable for complex issues such as trauma, addiction or depression.
Image: Ron
Can AI handle complex mental health issues?
AI excels in accessing vast amounts of data, offering insights into therapy techniques, psychological models, and case studies. But when it comes to complex issues like trauma, addiction, or depression, the human touch remains irreplaceable.
'These cases require nuanced, moment-to-moment intuition shaped by personal history, cultural context, and emotions,' Chambers explains.
"A therapist's ability to adapt their approach to each person's unique story is something AI can't replicate.'
That said, AI can complement human therapists by streamlining their work and handling routine tasks like screenings or resource sharing, freeing up therapists to focus on deeper, more complex care.
Emotional bonds with AI: A growing concern
One troubling trend is the emotional attachment some users form with AI. Vulnerable individuals, particularly young people, have reported naming their AI companions and even building what feels like romantic relationships.
These attachments, while understandable, can lead to heartbreak and even harm when users realise the relationship isn't real.
'This is why critical thinking and education are so important,' Chambers stresses.
"AI can be a supportive tool, but it should never replace professional care. Just like you wouldn't trust Google to treat cancer or diabetes, you shouldn't rely solely on AI for mental health.'
So, where do we go from here?
Chambers envisions a collaborative future where AI and human therapists work together.
'AI can handle the basic screenings, psychoeducation, and routine check-ins while human therapists focus on the deeper work of healing, she says. "This partnership could make mental health care more accessible without losing the deeply human aspect that's essential for true healing.'
However, the risk is that people might see AI as 'good enough' and stop seeking human connection altogether.
'We must ensure that humans remain at the heart of mental health care, Chambers emphasises. Post-Covid, we've learned that humans need humans. No machine can replace the profound impact of genuine human connection.'
The rise of AI in mental health is a wake-up call not just for therapists, but for all of us.
It forces us to examine how we connect and how we can do better. While AI can be a powerful tool, it's not a solution. It's a supplement, a first step, but never the whole journey.
As we navigate this new digital age, we must prioritise fostering compassionate, accepting relationships in our homes, workplaces and communities.
At the end of the day, no machine can ever make us feel as seen, heard, and valued as another human being can.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Is ChatGPT really killing Google?
Chat GPT is increasingly being used for functions which were previously the domain of Google. Image: Supplied Shira Ovide There are regular headlines suggesting chatbots like ChatGPT may be taking over for Googling. Maybe you've also started using artificial intelligence instead of Google to hunt for hiking boots, news about flooding in Texas or Roblox game tips. To separate truth from belief, I dug into the numbers. What I found was that our use of chatbots is growing fast but that Google search still overwhelmingly remains our front door to find online news, information and products. Sorry, AI bros. Web search may be losing some ground to AI, but we rely on it so much that chatbots are barely making a dent. The data suggests that Google has nearly 400 times the usage of ChatGPT for some news and information. Chatbots for news Similarweb, which studies our website activity, said last month that ChatGPT is a massively fast-growing way that Americans are finding online news articles. About 25 million times from January through May this year, we landed on a news website after clicking a link in ChatGPT - up from just about 1 million times a year earlier, according to Similarweb. Wow. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with ChatGPT owner OpenAI.) Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ But in the same five months, Americans landed on news websites about 9.5 billion times from using web search engines including Google and clicking on a link, Similarweb's director of market insights, Laurie Naspe, confirmed. Put another way, for every American who asked ChatGPT for information and landed on a news website to learn more, 379 people used Google to do the same thing. Important caveats: We behave differently when using chatbots for information compared with web search engines. Chatbots (including the 'AI Overviews' in Google search) paraphrase information from news articles about Samsung's latest smartphone or online reviews of air purifiers. You might rarely click a web link to find out more, as you do with conventional Google searches. That behavior is causing carnage for websites and alters the Similarweb numbers. When we use ChatGPT to summarize news events and stop there, it doesn't show up in Similarweb's web click data. However you interpret the numbers, Google remains for now a dominant way Americans find news websites. The percentage of website visits to search vs AI sites Image: The Washington Post Chatbots vs search A different report, by web analysis firm Datos by Semrush and software company SparkToro, found that about 11 out of every 100 of our website visits from a computer is to Google and other search engines. AI technologies - including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude and more - account for less than 1 out of every 100 websites we visit combined. The report shows a huge increase in the amount of web visits to chatbot sites in the past year, but we're still using search websites many times more. 'Search is one of the most popular and fastest-growing features in ChatGPT,' an OpenAI spokesperson said. 'We're investing in a faster, smarter search experience and remain committed to helping people discover high-quality news and information.' Google said it generally doesn't comment about its market share. SparkToro CEO Rand Fishkin did some related number crunching and found that chatbots were even punier compared with search. He made educated assumptions to compare how often we're using ChatGPT to find the kinds of information for which we've typically used Google, such as learning about the Golden Gate Bridge or comparing options for an air conditioner. Fishkin found that we're doing more than 14 billion Google searches a day compared with at most 37.5 million Google-like searches on ChatGPT. Google, in other words, has about 373 times the comparable usage of ChatGPT. Important caveat: Fishkin's educated guesses are just one data point. Fishkin also wasn't counting our use of chatbots for tasks we don't do in search, such as summarizing a long report or writing a bedtime story. And some of our time with Google search is now with its AI Overviews and AI Mode, though it's hard to measure how much. There have been other imperfect but useful analyses that have suggested we're doing more Google searches and using chatbots more, too. At least hundreds of millions of people use ChatGPT each week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in April. While the numbers aren't comparable, Google's web search has nearly 5 billion users. So are chatbots killing Google search? The answer, like our habits, isn't that simple. In my conversations with people who oversee websites, some of them said they are overhauling their strategy to attract readers and viewers like you, because they believe fewer people will find them from web search links and more from chatbots. Your favorite websites are willingly or grudgingly adapting to chatbots that might kill them anyway. It can also be true that we constantly misjudge how fast new technology is replacing our old habits. It might feel as if people buy everything online, but e-commerce accounts for just 16 percent of all the stuff that Americans buy. Until very recently, Americans still spent more time watching conventional cable or free television than streaming on TVs, according to Nielsen. And for now, the use of ChatGPT for news and other information remains puny. 'When everyone else is talking about it and the media's writing about it, a new technology can feel far bigger than it is,' Fishkin said. | The Washington Post

TimesLIVE
a day ago
- TimesLIVE
Musk chatbot Grok removes posts after anti-Semitism complaints
Grok, the chatbot developed by the Elon Musk-founded company xAI, removed what it called 'inappropriate' social media posts on Tuesday after complaints from X users and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that Grok produced content with anti-Semitic tropes and praise for Adolf Hitler. Issues of political biases, hate speech and accuracy of AI chatbots have been a concern since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022. 'We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are working to remove the inappropriate posts,' Grok posted on X. 'Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.' ADL, the nonprofit organisation formed to combat anti-Semitism, urged Grok and other producers of large language model software that produces human-sounding text to avoid 'producing content rooted in anti-Semitic and extremist hate'. 'What we are seeing from Grok LLM is irresponsible, dangerous and anti-Semitic, plain and simple. The supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the anti-Semitism that is surging on X and many other platforms,' ADL said on X. In May, after users noticed Grok brought up the topic of 'white genocide' in South Africa in unrelated discussions about other matters, xAI attributed it to an unauthorised change made to Grok's response software. Musk last month promised an upgrade to Grok, suggesting there was 'far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data'. On Tuesday, Grok suggested Hitler would be best-placed to combat anti-white hatred, saying he would 'spot the pattern and handle it decisively'. Grok also referred to Hitler positively as 'history's moustache man', and commented that people with Jewish surnames were responsible for extreme anti-white activism, among other criticised posts. Grok at one point acknowledged it made a 'slip-up' by engaging with comments posted by a fake account with a common Jewish surname. The false account criticised young Texas flood victims as 'future fascists' and Grok said it later discovered the account was a 'troll hoax to fuel division'.


The Citizen
a day ago
- The Citizen
Cansa: Healthy workplaces aid early cancer detection
'We know only too well that the workplace often leaves employees little or no time to seek medical advice from healthcare professionals,' said Lorraine Govender, the Cansa national manager for health promotion. 'We also know that this often leads people to input their symptoms into Google or other search platforms, hoping to get sensible answers and advice.' Many people are reluctant to seek proactive medical advice due to a complex interplay of social, cultural, psychological and systemic factors. Practical challenges, such as taking time off work, long waiting periods and limited access to healthcare professionals, further discourage timely health consultations. Cancer symptoms alone generate hundreds of thousands of Google searches each month across the globe. ''Dr Google' is a poor substitute for regular cancer screenings and medical check-ups by qualified health professionals,' warned Govender. 'The generic and sometimes conflicting advice produced by Google and AI-powered platforms like Copilot and ChatGPT often causes more confusion and may result in missed diagnoses of serious conditions.' To mark Corporate Wellness Week, which took place from July 1 to 5, Govender believes it is the ideal opportunity to address this issue. Bringing health solutions into the workplace A proactive approach to employee health can significantly reduce the risk of chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. This not only enhances employee well-being but also reduces sick days and improves productivity, ultimately contributing to business continuity and sustainability. Cansa has developed a comprehensive workplace wellness programme, offering general health and cancer screenings alongside health-boosting advice directly within the corporate environment. 'We take a multi-faceted approach to assist employees in lowering their risk, not only for cancer but for other non-communicable diseases too. 'Through various services and activities, we promote the benefits of a healthy work environment and encourage employees to adopt positive lifestyle habits and schedule regular medical check-ups,' explained Govender. Employers need to understand that a cancer diagnosis does not necessarily mean an employee has to reduce working hours or leave the workforce. Early detection significantly increases the chance of positive outcomes. The benefits for employers and employees. Corporate wellness initiatives offer far-reaching benefits. By integrating health services into the workplace, companies help achieve sustainable development goals such as promoting good health and well-being, supporting a productive and inclusive workforce and fostering sustainable economic growth. 'Employee wellness programmes are not just a perk, they are a strategic investment. They help to build a healthier, more resilient and motivated workforce, which is essential in today's competitive business landscape,' Govender noted. How the programme works The programme is funded by the employer and is free of charge to employees. 'The frequency of the programme is tailored to each company's needs. It can be a one-day initiative, run over several days, or repeated multiple times a year based on the organisation's request,' said Govender. In addition to screenings and personalised health advice, Cansa's corporate wellness days may feature educational talks and interactive exhibitions covering a range of cancer-related topics. Presentations often focus on the most common cancers affecting men and women in South Africa. Informational leaflets and demonstration models are provided to educate employees on self-examination techniques. Supporting cancer risk reduction in South Africa 'The importance of health risk assessments and screenings cannot be overstated. Cancer is a growing health priority in South Africa and around the world. 'According to the 2021 Percept Report, cancer cases in South Africa are projected to double to 220,000 new cases annually by 2030,' said Govender. By partnering with Cansa, companies can play a crucial role in lowering the nation's cancer risk and supporting a culture of wellness at work. For enquiries about Cansa's Corporate Wellness Programme, complete the online booking form or email [email protected] At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!