As I write this blog, I am trying hard not to use ChatGPT to make my work faster, easier and maybe even better.
I sit with a lot of emotions: I fear being incompetent, replaceable and dependent. I feel amused about all that AI can do. I feel guilty for using AI too much. I feel angry about how everything written by AI seems so perfect and curated. I surprisingly also feel hopeful that now I enjoy reading anything human. I feel I am more accepting of imperfections and mistakes. I feel confused and worried about how useful AI actually is.
The Power of AI:
We are in a new, bizarre world. Just as we are getting used to the infiltration of social media, we now have AI to deal with. I see conversations of AI entering therapy rooms and supervision spaces.
Some use AI to analyse their behavioural and emotional patterns, some to anxiously find all the information they can and some to calm down when they are overwhelmed. Most have expressed that it has helped them (at least in the moment). I, too, have used AI to find the ‘perfect’ words. And it has helped.
The Peril of AI:
It helps because AI is brilliant. We have information and tools available in books, in people and other corners of the internet.
However, AI gives it to you on a platter – confidently. Not just that, if you don’t like it, it will serve you with another dish and then another till you feel satisfied, free of cost. It remembers every single thing you have mentioned. It listens to your feedback and politely so. It uses words that make you feel like you are talking to a person. And it’s available 24/7. A human, on the other hand, is limited – a human sometimes isn’t always confident, doesn’t have all the answers, gets tired and sometimes uses the wrong words.
The Price of AI:
Discomfort? Who that?
I feel so frustrated when Google doesn’t understand my super vague non-coherent question at once. I immediately switch to AI mode. With answers instantly available on AI, we are slowly losing our ability to sit with discomfort, disappointments and distress which are part of everyday life. Sitting with these emotions helps us build resilience. It lets us know that – ‘These emotions won’t kill me, they are not monsters, I can handle them.’
It helps us enjoy the merits of delayed gratification. It serves as a guiding light towards the things that matter to us rather than distracting ourselves. It makes space for other emotions also to exist fully. As James Lucas Scott from One Tree Hill (fictional show) once said, “Sometimes people have to cry out all the tears to make room for a heart full of smiles.”
Don’t have time to breathe, okay?
AI can generate an image, script and report in just a few seconds. All this on our pocket sized device that we carry everywhere. This, along with constant phone notifications and quick commerce, signals to our nervous system that everything needs to be instant, in a HURRY, RIGHT NOW!
Did you notice how ‘hurry, right now’ written all in capital made you feel in your body? Maybe some tightness, some restlessness? For most of us, the body perceived urgency when there isn’t one and when that happens a lot of times, we get stuck in chronic high alert mode. Only when we slow down, our body feels safe and calm. We only stroll in a park when we are feeling safe. Sometimes, we need to stroll in a park so our brain knows we are safe. That’s why, in therapy, we ask “How are you feeling in your body right now?” and explore slowing down.
This is also why a therapist’s calm presence helps a client feel safe. This is intentional and the process at play is co-regulation, where one person’s calm, regulated nervous system calms another’s through non-verbal cues like tone of voice, facial expressions and body language. This happens because of mirror neurons — brain cells that automatically “mirror” or copy what we observe in others. This works only with a living being.
Emotional Damage
A recent 2025 Brown University study found that AI “counselors” frequently violate ethical standards, including failing to detect crises and employing “deceptive empathy” to gain user trust. It highlighted issues with cultural sensitivity and personalized care. In a moment of vulnerability, if you forget that you are talking to an algorithm, you might think that someone is understanding your pain. You might think you are connecting but you are disconnecting, isolating and losing reality.
Is this article AI generated?
No, it’s not (Do you believe me?) but I remember watching a video of Brene Brown, a renowned researcher and crying because it was so touching, only to later realise that her voice had been AI generated. I felt very betrayed and stupid.
When we aren’t able to differentiate between what is real and what is AI, confusion heightens, mistrust increases and emotional safety declines. In human relationships when trust is broken, there is space for dialogue, accountability and repair, unlike AI.
Our relationship with AI is new and all our emotions towards it are valid. They are our guiding light. I don’t have all the answers but as we navigate this challenge, I truly hope that human connections are never lost in therapy rooms and AI only serves as a helping tool because as Harville Hendrix, renowned therapist, once said,
“ We are born in relationship,
we are wounded in relationship and
we can be healed in a relationship.”
References:
Iftikhar, Z., Xiao, A., Ransom, S., Huang, J., & Suresh, H. (2025). How LLM counselors violate ethical standards in mental health practice: A practitioner-informed framework. Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 8(2), 1311–1323. https://doi.org/10.1609/aies.v8i2.36632
Tveita, L. J., & Hustad, E. (2025). Benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence in the public sector: A literature review. Procedia Computer Science, 256, 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2025.01.020
Stoliarchuk, O., Klishevych, N., Pavliuk, R., Tian, L., Binkivska, K., Serhieienkova, O., Strunhar, A., & Divchuk, T. (2025). The advantages and risks of AI in sustainable societal development: Perspectives of future psychologists. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 14(2), 562–574. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2025.v14n2p562
Warrier, S. (2026, March 2). AI and the brain: Subtle changes you didn’t notice.
