Is AI Replacing Therapists?
Will AI replace me? It is having an impact on therapy? Let’s talk about it…
There’s a HUGE question mark on a lot of things right now.
As much as some might not want to admit it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay… and it’s changing the game.
It’s changing everything… how much it changes something depends on what we’re talking about.
Even in my career that is so human-first, I’ve been wondering what kind of impact AI will have on the therapy world.
I’ve found myself asking:
Will AI replace therapists?
How ethical is all of this?
What can AI do that might help both therapists and clients?
I’m in several groups for therapists, and over the past year I’ve started to see professionals saying that they were turning to ChatGPT for help writing treatment plans & notes, and talking about how their clients were using Chat for help in between their sessions.
I’ve been paying attention for a while and it’s been interesting to see the conversations evolve.
AI seems like a new phenomenon that kind of seemed to come out of nowhere, but it’s been around a while, especially before it really went mainstream this year.
I actually had a client, about 2 years ago - long before I really knew much about ChatGPT, who would tell me he was using it in between sessions to remind him how to use tools we’d discuss and to support him in his role at work with email writing and other tasks.
As we talked, we discussed the limitations I knew of and he seemed to be using it responsibly.
But I also figured if this was something one of my clients was using, it would be good to check it out and learn more about what it had to offer.
So I dug in a little, treated ChatGPT like a Google search and began using it for some simple things: recipes, help me organize tasks and ideas for restaurants and help with planning our road trips.
Then Everything Seemed to Shift
As I learned more about ChatGPT and other AI platforms, I kept paying attention to what was occurring within my field.
And here's what started to happen: I began to see therapists online start to panic.
They were worried.
Uncertain.
Fearful for our future.
And rightfully so…
In early 2025, I started to observe conversations about the impact AI was going to have. Everyone was talking about it but no one really knew what was happening.
And, honestly, as I write this, we still don’t. AI seems to evolve quicker than we can keep up with.
Something I WASN’T going to do:
Freak Out.
What I WAS going to do:
Learn about and lean into the ways AI could benefit my practice AND my clients.
Concerns about AI
The more I learn, the more clarity I have about how I plan to use it and how I won’t use it.
I know a lot of therapists are using AI services to record sessions and write their notes. (Many other providers like doctors also use things like this, so it’s not unheard of.) While consent needs to be given by the client for a provider to use something like this (or, at least, they should be), I’m not comfortable recording sessions and having a platform spit out my notes. Yes, you review them and check for accuracy, but at the time of this blog post, I’m making an intention decision to not record sessions and I continue to write all my own notes.
AI is NOT therapy.
In fact, several states have already enacted laws against using AI as therapy.
How they’re going to police this, I’m not sure.
You have to be discerning about where your information is coming from. And we should be doing that whether it’s AI or another resource! (*cough cough* random advice from unqualified people on social media)
Buuut as I learned more about AI, I did realize I could:
organize tasks super efficiently.
get ideas about items to look into and how reset the atmosphere in my office to make it more effective & supportive
find great recipes and substitutes that support my health
input some of my writing or podcast episodes and have it pull ideas for repurposing my content
What I know we all need to be careful of…
AI is here to stay
This feels a lot like when the internet was introduced to us (yes, I’m old haha), but at warp speed with much more instantaneous capabilities.
It’s wild how fast it’s moving and evolving, and the different platforms coming out every day. Please continue to be discerning about where information & visuals are coming from!
Helpful info for you to know about AI:
LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT ‘scrape’ the entire internet for information, the output you’re seeing can be coming from anywhere on the web
There’s no “Recency Bias” with a platform like ChatGPT - it’ll bring up outdated information because it’s pulling from ALL the resources it has, which means you still need to verify what you’re reading & begin given
There’s no specific or personal perspective - platforms like ChatGPT comb through the entire internet and give you information without a specific perspective. It’s like an echo chamber and will tend to agree with & amplify what you’re saying.
There is Value in AI … but there are limits!
If you choose not to use AI, that’s completely fine. It’s something that’s being integrated into our lives but it’s not something you have to use if you’re not ready to.
AI can give you tools. It can't create attunement.
If you input some information or a scenario, AI will pull tools from the internet and offer you suggestions. While it will agree with you and tend to have bias toward whatever you’re saying, it’s not forming a relationship. There is no attunement. Meaning, it’s not emotionally connecting with you and providing a true sense of a relationship or sense of safety.
AI can give you journal prompt ideas. It can't process things for you.
If you’re looking for journal prompts for a particular situation, it can spit out as much as you want and tailor the suggestions, which is great! But you have to do the thinking, processing and reflecting. The awareness is still your responsibility and, just like the therapeutic process, you have to do the work.
AI can help you sift through data. It can't understand nuance.
You can write out a scenario, your thoughts and any reflections you’ve made, but AI can’t pick up on body language, tone, verbal & nonverbal cues… all the nuances that happen in a therapy session. I’m trained to watch for specific eye movements, the depth of your breathing, body/physical cues, etc in order to pick up on what might be happening internally or any nervous system dysregulation. AI is strictly going off of your input, so it’s output will limited.
AI can give you suggestions. It can't give you experience and wisdom.
AI is damn smart. And fast AF. Don’t get me wrong. It’s literally scanning the entire history of the internet to provide you a response to whatever you stated or asked. But it’s not going to have the professional experience, personal anectdotes or wisdom to make connections between what you’re saying and how you may benefit from other information a therapist holds in their mind.
So what do we trust? If you’re looking for specific help with something, where do you turn?
What I decided to do was build a “Digital Twin” of myself to see how it compared to ChatGPT.
I named her LORAI. (pronounced: Lore-A-I)
And I was pretty impressed with what she could do.
Remember how I said ChatGPT doesn’t have a specific perspective or recency bias?
My digital twin does. If you were to ask me a question, I’d answer you based on my knowledge and whatever was currently relevant. And so does my digital twin. It responds just as I would. And I update it weekly; if my opinion or perspective on something changes, you’d receive the most up-to-date information and be given options.
I’ve been a licensed therapist for 20 years. So LORAI is pulling from the classes I’ve taught, videos & podcastsI’ve recorded, interviews I’ve done, blogs and guest posts I’ve written… anything I’ve ever done that I had recorded in my little personal library. It’s A LOT of content.
And it was all used to build my digital twin; it’s all my knowledge.
So while AI has its limitations and concerns, there are benefits and I’m floored at what LORAI can do.
Don’t forget, chat bots will pull from the internet and possibly provide outdated, scraped-from-who-knows-where information. LORAI will pull from the internet but use my content & perspective to provide you support in my voice.
It can be a powerful way to receive support in th emoment, from a place that’s not an echo-chamber and can provide you tools specific to your situation.
Here's what I encourage you to ask yourself:
What if you stopped fearing AI and started using it as a supplement to keep you focused on your goals?
What if instead of being resistant, you used it periodically to do things like track your mood, check in with your thoughts or get an immediate answer about how to interrupt a negative thought spiral?
While there are still many unknowns with where AI is going, we don’t have to fear the future. We can use the tools available to us to learn and help assist us in creating our futures
The Future is Here
Ugh, what a weird thing to say, I know.
When I think about it, this is the kind of stuff we used to see on the Jetsons and what we were all afraid of when Y2K was on the horizon. (yup, I just aged myself again LOL)
We’re in a world where AI can do a lot and I truly don’t think it’ll replace the human connection & relationship that we create in the therapy room.
But so far, AI can be a supplement to what you’re already doing if you’d like to use it.
While a lot of people are worried about AI, I’m choosing to stay informed and don’t want to panic.
I’ll continue to learn from my own mentors in the AI field so I can pass along the best resources that can help you.
If you’d like a place to start, Click Here to grab 10 AI prompts that can help you Feel Better Fast… they’re free and you can use them with whatever chatbot you prefer but I encourage you to try them with LORAI to get my specific perspective & voice.
While we need to be careful and diligent, and ensure we’re verifying any information AI gives us, we don’t have to panic as we start to build this bridge between humans and tech.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate you being here!
~Lori
resources for you:
I’ve also released a podcast episode about what I’m seeing with AI & Mental Health (you can listen to it here), and I can’t wait to keep this conversation going