This question has been coming up a lot between me and friends and colleagues. I think a lot of people are wondering the same thing about many job fields.
On the other hand, I've been working with AI a LOT more the last year and I've come away with one major impression:
AI is like working with an INSANELY smart 5-year-old.
It has access to the internet, a wealth of information that is similar to the leap to being able to use calculators instead of doing everything by hand. Or remember the days of Encyclopedias? My family had at least two different brands of every letter in that alphabet. Using AI I have been able to get ideas, edit, summarize, improve, and speed up so many things I do. But AI has to be guided, especially with creative works.
I've come to see it as AI can't add "soul" to a work of art. It has its own version of soul I suppose, but it's copying from many other things and largely just wants to please you. I read the way it writes and the images it comes up with and there's something... off about it. I can start to tell the difference between AI and the "real thing" created by people.
Therapy is all about soul. The eyes are the window to that soul and our life experiences give us those moments of connection that can't be duplicated by good advice, a book or a google search for answers. Those things are helpful, but therapy has an art that AI, at least for now, can't duplicate and I don't think it ever will. The humanity of therapy, in my opinion, is not just about therapeutic technique, but about relatability and the hard-to-explain relief that comes from someone just "getting me."
I love AI. It's brilliant and I can't wait to see what else it can do. But personally, I think it's going to accentuate the need for human connection and it will even improve our ability to connect person to person by taking some arduous mental tasks off our plates.
I'm curious, what do y'all think?
Dr. Gregory Donihoo
The Couch Psychology Center
I wrote the above without any edits. One take. Here's the ChatGPT version below asking it to be approachable and engaging. Can you feel any differences?
AI and Therapy: Can a 5-Year-Old Take Over Your Job?
This question has been coming up a lot lately among friends, colleagues, and clients. Across many fields, people are wondering: Is AI going to take over what I do?
As someone who's worked a LOT with AI this past year, here’s my main takeaway:
AI is like an INSANELY smart 5-year-old.
Let me explain. It has access to a wealth of knowledge—like a kid who somehow learned to Google everything—but it still needs guidance. AI is game-changing in the same way calculators replaced manual math or when we stopped flipping through encyclopedia sets (anyone else remember those?).
I’ve used AI to brainstorm, edit, summarize, improve, and speed up my workload. It’s been incredibly helpful for certain tasks. But here’s the catch: it’s not creative on its own. Especially when it comes to something as nuanced as soul.
AI Lacks Soul... And That's Okay
In art, writing, and especially therapy, there’s an undeniable "off-ness" to what AI produces. Sure, it can string words and images together beautifully, but something’s missing. It doesn't have life experiences. It doesn’t get you like a real person does.
That’s where the art of therapy stands apart.
Therapy isn’t just about techniques or giving good advice. It’s about the deeply human, hard-to-describe experience of being seen and understood. The look in someone’s eyes that says, I know what you’re going through. The shared silence that connects two people who don’t need words.
AI doesn’t do that. Maybe it never will.
The Future of AI and Human Connection
Here’s what I do think AI will do: it’ll take tedious mental tasks off our plates. And by doing so, it will actually create more opportunities for deeper, meaningful human connection.
As much as I love what AI can do, I believe its rise will make the humanity of certain professions—like therapy—even more essential.
But that’s just my take. What do y’all think?
Dr. Gregory Donihoo The Couch Psychology Center