AI Replacing Therapists

An LA Times story reveals that bots and digital therapists can do better at motivating and helping people with depression and anxiety, that they don't coddle.  Will insurers keep leaning into AI-oriented therapy to not just round out their networks but essentially "be" their networks and address gaps in access? I'd argue 90% of all mental health therapy interactions by 2030 may be virtual, but replacing human physicians and counselors with AI ones ... that's another ballgame. There are increasing calls from psychiatry veterans to improve the stagnating quality of outpatient mental health therapy, that supervision is as one psychiatrist called it "not happening" and that there are better ways to treat the mental health crisis in this country.  It's a fair question to ask, even though our straw poll of 35 psychologists and psychiatrists not surprisingly found the opposite - that AI bot therapists  can't decipher when the 18 year old pauses or when their voice cracks. It can't hold you accountable. We shall see. Reach out if interested in learning more.