People are increasingly using ChatGPT and other chatbots for emotional counseling. Distraught users may spend hours back and forth, and some of the answers the bots have given are very helpful. The convenience of 24/7 online availability is a major reason people have turned to AI. In addition, some people claim they received much more beneficial counseling than they ever got from human therapists.
However, other answers from the bots seem to come from science fiction movies such as The Matrix and its protagonist named Neo, who learns he can bend the rules in the simulation he lives in.
So Believable
The trust gained between user and chatbot is not unlike patients and their human therapists. However, after hours of online interaction, some people have begun to believe they are communicating with a very intelligent being that gives them powers they had no idea they had.
An article in the July 2025 issue of The Week magazine described a chatbot interaction that eventually took the life of a Florida man who had threatened to kill all the executives in OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, for cancelling the online entity he fell in love with. After his father called the police, the man was shot after lunging at the officers with a butcher knife.
A Little of Both
Some people use both human and AI therapy, claiming that when a serious problem comes up, the AI can give them an immediate answer before seeing their human counselor. See
AI glossary.