Conversational Artificial Intelligence in Psychotherapy: A New Therapeutic Tool or Agent?

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Mental Health
• Artificial Intelligence Ethics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) presents opportunities for accessible mental health support.
• The rapid adoption of CAI in therapy necessitates thorough ethical examination.
• Existing research requires a more holistic ethical and epistemic analysis of CAI in mental healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive ethical and epistemic analysis of adopting CAI in psychotherapy.
• To critically evaluate whether CAI should be considered a tool or an agent in therapeutic contexts.
• To explore the implications of CAI on self-knowledge, self-understanding, and therapeutic relationships.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of CAI's role as a tool versus an agent.
• Ethical scrutiny of CAI's impact on psychological concepts like self-knowledge and understanding.
• Examination of human-AI interaction dynamics in a therapeutic setting.

Main Results:

• CAI is best understood as a tool, not an agent, in psychotherapeutic conversations.
• Treating CAI as an equal conversational partner to a human therapist is inappropriate.
• The ethical framework suggests CAI's role should be functionally restricted.

Conclusions:

• CAI can augment mental health services but requires careful ethical consideration.
• A clear distinction between CAI as a tool and an agent is crucial for safe implementation.
• Restricting CAI to specific functions ensures its ethical and effective use in therapy.