Could AI be your next therapist?

Updated May 30, 2025, 6:50 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast

Is AI better at therapy than humans? This study might just break a few hearts.

Let’s be honest, relationships are hard. One minute you’re arguing over where to eat, the next someone’s feelings are crushed because “you never listen to me anymore.”

Traditionally, that’s when you book a couples therapy session and brace for some deep, uncomfortable introspection.

Although what if, instead of a human therapist, you turned to artificial intelligence (AI) for advice?

According to a new study, that might not be such a bad idea.

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The experiment: AI vs Humans

Researchers set up classic couples-therapy scenarios, like one partner dismissing the other’s depression, and then asked both licenced therapists and ChatGPT to respond to the situation.

The results were then shown to 830 people (half men, half women, average age 45), most of whom were in relationships themselves.

The catch? No one knew who wrote what. The participants had to guess whether each response came from a human therapist or an AI chatbot.

Spoiler alert: They couldn’t tell the difference.

On average, people guessed correctly just over half the time. Therapist responses were identified correctly 56.1% of the time, while ChatGPT’s were nailed only 51.2% of the time.

Here’s where it gets wild though. Not only could people barely tell them apart, but in many cases, they actually preferred ChatGPT’s advice.

The AI outperformed human therapists in several areas, including better understanding the speaker, showing empathy and being culturally competent.

Basically, the robot was out-therapisting the therapists.

The study, published in PLOS Mental Health, suggests this could be an early sign that AI might have a real future in the world of therapy.

Not necessarily replacing your therapist (no one’s firing Karen from couples counselling just yet), but adding some useful tools to the mix.

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Why does this actually make sense?

Mental health professionals have been eyeing AI tools for years, from chatbots that offer basic emotional support to programs that help therapists manage notes and paperwork.

Plus, with a global shortage of mental health providers, AI could help fill gaps, especially for people dealing with issues like sleep problems or social anxiety.

As psychologist and tech advocate Jessica Jackson put it in a 2023 article for the American Psychological Association: “While therapy should be for everyone, not everyone needs it. The chatbots can fill a need.”

So the next time you and your partner are bickering over whether pineapple belongs on pizza, maybe let an AI weigh in.

(For the record, it totally does not.)