Will AI Replace Psychologists?
Image prompted by David Nathan, PsyD and generated by OpenAI-GPT 5.0
Are Psychologists Obsolete?
Will AI Replace Psychologists? The topic comes up often, and with increasing frequency. It’s a good question.
I have used ChatGPT, and it’s pretty good. No question. It can generate beautiful pictures, papers and music. And most of the time, especially at first glance, we can’t tell if a person made it or not. That’s how good it is.
And I suspect that over time, it’s going to get better. I suspect that in time, even specialists, even experienced artists, writers, and composers, will not be able to tell if something on their screens or coming out of their speakers was created by AI or not.
But I think this criterion misses the point. But let me back up.
Several years ago, during Covid, I decided to take up piano. I used an electronic keyboard and an App available on iPad called SimplyPiano. And I learned a lot. It’s a good App. It really focuses on playing the correct notes for the right amount of time, and by practicing you can play a lot of fun and different songs. After a few years, I came to the end of what SimplyPiano could do for me and I decided to hire a piano teacher in my neighborhood.
My piano teacher, Natalia, was born in the former USSR. At a young age, she was identified as a prodigy and brought to a musical academy where she and other young children initially played scales for weeks. When she was still very young, she began giving concerts. Her life was set; when she grew up, she would be a professional pianist for the rest of her life. She eventually moved to America and became a piano teacher here. She knows music backwards and forwards. She has made comments on YouTube videos of the recently completed Chopin competition that have received hundreds of likes.
What shocked me when I started working with her was that she didn’t care if I hit the notes correctly or not. She told me the notes would come with practice; the important thing was to understand the technique, such as the phrasing of musical passages and recognizing how and why the same piano key sounded differently based on how you pressed it with your fingers.
AI Is Great at Hitting All the Right Notes
I asked her about this while I was writing is blog entry, and she said: “The biggest point of technique is to get the emotions of the music, to tell the story, to make people feel something. If some mistakes happen, that’s ok. We would prefer that mistakes don’t happen, but we can't be so careful that we are trying to get all the keys right and that the soul of the music is gone.”
I think the difference between playing piano simply by the sheet music vs. understanding and expressing the ideas the music is trying to convey is very similar to the difference between a ChatGPT-based therapist and a real one.
The Secret To Talk Therapy
Here is a funny little secret about talk therapy.
Good talk therapy is not about talk.
Good talk therapy is about relationships.
When therapists go to school and go through practicums, internships and post-doctoral fellowships, they are not just learning about how the mind works. They are also instructed on how to connect with their clients so their clients feel heard, understood, and cared about. Many of my supervisors said similar things: ‘the most important aspect of therapy is how your client feels in your room.’ ‘The relationship is going to make the biggest difference.’ ‘If a client knows you care about them and have their best intentions in mind, only then can they have the courage to try new things and grow.’
Not all therapists are good at this. But most are. If you see a therapist and don’t feel a connection, I recommend you find a different therapist. And no therapist can connect with everyone. That would be impossible. So ask your therapist questions and think about how you feel with that therapist. A good connection is essential for therapy to work. It is the soul of talk therapy.
A strong therapeutic relationship is the soil that allows healing, new ideas and thoughts to grow in a client.
There are plenty of self-help books out there. When we read text, we can learn things, but we can also forget when we read pretty easily. This is true also when we are listening to a lecture. These experiences can be profound, but most of the time they tend to be shallow. They tend not to make a huge difference in our lives.
Relationships with people who know care about us, though, that’s completely different. What we do with people who care about us tends to go deep. Therapists can guide clients, but we cannot change them. What we can do is provide a setting where clients can change themselves. And we do that through our therapeutic rapport with our clients, which takes more than words to create. And that’s the best way for psychological healing to take place.
Technology grows and changes. I think AI technology like ChatGPT can be used for many things and can be very helpful. And one day, it may be possible for a far more advanced AI to demonstrate to a user that it cares for them. But that day isn’t today. And until that day, ChatGPT is just the surface; it is just the notes. It doesn’t understand what the songwriter or composer is trying to convey. Maybe one day it will. And one day, perhaps ChatGPT provides the human connection that a good therapist can. But until that day comes, good therapists are going to be far better than ChatGPT.
David Nathan, MBA, PsyD, LP
I offer ADHD and ASD testing in St. Paul, MN. I would love to help you or a loved one if you are seeking an ADHD or ASD evaluation. For more information, please call me at (651) 337-3944 or fill out my contact form.
Disclaimer:
This site is for information only. It is not therapy. This blog is only for informational and educational purposes and should not be considered therapy or any form of treatment. We are not able to respond to specific questions or comments about personal situations, appropriate diagnosis or treatment, or otherwise provide any clinical opinions. If you think you need immediate assistance, call your local emergency number or the mental health crisis hotline listed in your local phone book. Use of this blog establishes your consent to the provisions of this disclaimer.
