ChatGPT outperforms psychotherapists in therapy response ratings...
When it comes to comparing responses written by psychotherapists to those written by ChatGPT, the latter are generally rated higher, according to a study published on February 12, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by H. Dorian Hatch from The Ohio State University and co-founder of Hatch Data and Mental Health, and colleagues.
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Therapy
Whether machines could be therapists is a question that has received increased attention given some of the benefits of working with generative artificial intelligence (AI). Although previous research has found that humans can struggle to differentiate between responses from machines and humans, recent findings suggest that AI can write empathically and the generated content is rated highly by both mental health professionals and voluntary service users. In fact, it is often favored over content written by professionals.
In their new study involving over 800 participants, Hatch and colleagues showed that, although differences in language patterns were noticed, individuals could rarely identify whether responses were written by ChatGPT or by therapists when presented with 18 couple's therapy vignettes. This finding echoes Alan Turing's prediction that humans would be unable to distinguish between responses written by a machine and those written by a human.
The Effectiveness of ChatGPT in Contextualization
Further analysis revealed that the responses generated by ChatGPT were generally longer than those written by the therapists. After controlling for length, ChatGPT continued to respond with more nouns and adjectives than therapists. This extensive use of nouns and adjectives by ChatGPT may indicate that it contextualizes more extensively than the therapists, leading respondents to rate the ChatGPT responses higher on the common factors of therapy.
According to the authors, these results may be an early indication that ChatGPT has the potential to improve psychotherapeutic processes. It may lead to the development of different methods of testing and creating psychotherapeutic interventions. The mounting evidence suggesting that generative AI can be useful in therapeutic settings calls for mental health experts to expand their technical literacy to ensure that AI models are trained and supervised by responsible professionals, thus enhancing the quality of, and access to care.
The authors state, "Since the invention of ELIZA nearly sixty years ago, researchers have debated whether AI could play the role of a therapist. Although there are still many important lingering questions, our findings indicate the answer may be 'Yes.' We hope our work galvanizes both the public and mental health practitioners to ask important questions about the ethics, feasibility, and utility of integrating AI and mental health treatment, before the AI train leaves the station."
Reference: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000145
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Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Heart, Language, Mental Health, Psychotherapy, Research
