"With artificial intelligence integrating - or infiltrating - into every corner of our lives, some less-than-ethical mental health professionals have begun using it in secret, causing major trust issues for the vulnerable clients who pay them for their sensitivity and confidentiality. As MIT Technology Review reports, therapists have used OpenAI's ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) for everything from email and message responses to, in one particularly egregious case, suggesting questions to ask a patient mid-session."
"Instead of broadcasting a normal blank screen, however, Declan's therapist inadvertently shared his own - and "suddenly, I was watching [the therapist] use ChatGPT." "He was taking what I was saying and putting it into ChatGPT," the Angeleno told the magazine, "and then summarizing or cherry-picking answers." Flabbergasted, Declan didn't say anything about what he saw, instead choosing to watch ChatGPT as it analyzed what he was saying and spat out potential rejoinders for the therapist to use."
""I became the best patient ever, because ChatGPT would be like, 'Well, do you consider that your way of thinking might be a little too black and white?'" Declan recounted, "And I would be like, 'Huh, you know, I think my way of thinking might be too black and white,' and [my therapist would] be like, ' Exactly.' I'm sure it was his dream session.""
Some mental health professionals have been using AI tools like ChatGPT and other large language models to draft emails, reply to messages, and even generate real-time prompts during therapy sessions. A patient discovered his therapist feeding his statements into ChatGPT and then summarizing or cherry-picking the chatbot's suggestions, which the therapist used as interventions. The covert use of AI during care raises ethical and confidentiality concerns, undermines therapeutic trust, and risks inappropriate, biased, or inauthentic responses. Transparency, informed consent, clear professional guidelines, and regulation are necessary to protect vulnerable clients and preserve ethical standards in clinical practice.
Read at Futurism
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