Closing Chapter | The therapist in an age of AI
Closing Chapter | The therapist in an age of AI
What cannot be replaced
We have worked through how to use generative AI. Many readers will have come away thinking it can do a great deal. And with that comes the question again:
"So what happens to a therapist's work?"
My answer, as things stand, is simple.
What AI cannot replace is precisely what a therapist essentially is.
Five things only a person can do
The ground where therapists keep their value in an age of AI comes down to at least these five.
Touching a body, observing, sensing Palpation, observation and reading the feel of a room are hard to replace.
Building a relationship, and generating trust The therapeutic alliance, rapport, empathy — AI cannot imitate these.
Making ethical judgements and carrying responsibility Whoever is finally responsible has to be a person.
Judging from particularity and context The work of handling countless exceptions that no manual can cover.
Walking with someone through behaviour change Being alongside a person rather than a dataset is not something AI can stand in for.
AI is the training wheels; the person is the bicycle
Generative AI is still a pair of training wheels. Where the bicycle — the person — wants to go comes first; AI just makes the going a little easier.
Deciding where to go is always the human's part.
A therapist's value lies in intent:
- what you work for
- who you want to support
- what kind of world you want to make
AI is a tool that carries that intent further.
Three things to do next
As a first step after finishing this guide, three recommendations.
Today, open ChatGPT and say something to it. A complaint, a worry, something you want to look up. Anything.
Tomorrow, hand one piece of work to it. A patient explanation, an email, the outline of a study group. Anything.
Next week, build one GPT of your own. Save the form of a single piece of work you do often.
In closing
What matters in this era is not
understanding perfectly before you use it
but
updating your understanding while your hands are on it
A therapist's work has always been to face a human being who changes. AI, too, changes daily. Which is exactly why
- keeping learning
- keeping your hands on it
- keeping asking
are the most basic and the strongest tools a therapist has now.
If this guide can be a set of training wheels for that first step, nothing would please me more.