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The Conversation
Netalie Shloim, Lecturer in Counselling & Psychotherapy, School of Healthcare, University of Leeds

The danger of confusing AI mental health support with therapy

Nuva Frames/Shutterstock

In a recent episode of British sitcom Amandaland, Anne Flynn turns to ChatGPT for help talking to her teenage son about sex. The episode frames this as “The Chat”: the awkward parent-child conversation many adults dread.

What Anne is doing on screen is what many people are now doing in private: taking hard human conversations to a machine that can answer immediately. The scene raises a bigger question: what do people need from another person when they are struggling, and can AI provide it?

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