AI and the Future of the Mental Health Practitioner Field

If people are using AI chatbots for advice and therapy... what does that mean for the future of the mental health practitioner field?

This stark question came up during my guest lecture at NYU Silver School of Social Work from one of the students.

We had just covered an overview of the statistics of chatbot use:
➕ 800 million weekly ChatGPT users
➕ 33 million Copilot users (Microsoft says this cohort's primary use of AI is as a "trusted companion")
➕ 20 million monthly users of Character AI (half of which are under the age of 24)

When you play the tape forward, you can extrapolate that likely AI usage will increase, not decrease. Therefore, this student's concern about the future of her profession was founded.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

While there are dozens of ways to approach this concern, the one I gravitated toward in the moment was this...

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 '𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰'. 𝘈 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦, 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 (𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭); 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 '𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰'. 

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 '𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨'. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢 "𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰" 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦."

AI will advance, faster than any of us can comprehend, but you can find both solace and excitement in the fact that your experience as a fellow traveler on the human path will always have a place work and in life.