“Your Next Therapist Could Be an AI Chatbot—But Should They Be?” Prevention Magazine, by Hannah Jeon, June 20, 2025:
https://www.prevention.com/health/mental-health/a65045817/mental-health-ai-chatbots-therapy/
“So far, much of the current research on AI chatbots for mental health support has been non-randomized, non-controlled, and small in sample size, says Şerife Tekin, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, whose work includes the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI in medicine. Plus, many studies are being conducted by the companies who are trying to sell their product, which is a “research integrity and conflict of interest issue,” Tekin notes.
“There’s really barely any evidence that shows that [AI therapy chatbots] are in fact effective,” she says. “We do not have longitudinal studies that look at people with diagnosis of mental disorders who did not have any other kind of help, who used these chatbots, and can say that they benefited from these kinds of interventions.”