Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations

Humanity’s ability to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), or the skills and “knowledge” that it can impart, depends not only on the control of input fed to AI, but also on output management. When properly managed, the AI output, including of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, can comple...

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Main Authors: J.A. Teixeira da Silva, Y. Yamada
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: South Kazakhstan Medical Academy 2024-12-01
Series:Central Asian Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ethics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cajmhe.com/index.php/journal/article/view/403
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author J.A. Teixeira da Silva
Y. Yamada
author_facet J.A. Teixeira da Silva
Y. Yamada
author_sort J.A. Teixeira da Silva
collection DOAJ
description Humanity’s ability to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), or the skills and “knowledge” that it can impart, depends not only on the control of input fed to AI, but also on output management. When properly managed, the AI output, including of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, can complement human endeavor and excellence. Yet, if abused or left to its own computational vices, AI might cause harm to humans and thus humanity. Within this in mind, this perspective paper offers a reflection on whether LLM-based AI, having the capacity to integrate text, voice and speech, could assist in personal or psychological counseling processes. Cognizant that psychological counseling places the human factor as a central premise of therapy, AI could be perceived as a risk of replacing human-centered counseling roles, even though it might provide assistance to humans under strictly controlled conditions. While the replacement of human-based counseling is not being advocated, there is value in considering the possibility of applying LLM-based AI tools as counseling aides, as AI-human teams, under strict human supervision, and following stringent testing, provided that an ethical working framework and reliability in AI performance can be established.
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spelling doaj-art-7ee87e3311fb4defb0d5df3bafb9a7122025-08-20T02:39:51ZengSouth Kazakhstan Medical AcademyCentral Asian Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ethics2708-98002024-12-015429730310.47316/cajmhe.2024.5.4.06403Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitationsJ.A. Teixeira da Silva0Y. Yamada1Independent researcher, Miki-cho, JapanFaculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, JapanHumanity’s ability to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), or the skills and “knowledge” that it can impart, depends not only on the control of input fed to AI, but also on output management. When properly managed, the AI output, including of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, can complement human endeavor and excellence. Yet, if abused or left to its own computational vices, AI might cause harm to humans and thus humanity. Within this in mind, this perspective paper offers a reflection on whether LLM-based AI, having the capacity to integrate text, voice and speech, could assist in personal or psychological counseling processes. Cognizant that psychological counseling places the human factor as a central premise of therapy, AI could be perceived as a risk of replacing human-centered counseling roles, even though it might provide assistance to humans under strictly controlled conditions. While the replacement of human-based counseling is not being advocated, there is value in considering the possibility of applying LLM-based AI tools as counseling aides, as AI-human teams, under strict human supervision, and following stringent testing, provided that an ethical working framework and reliability in AI performance can be established.https://cajmhe.com/index.php/journal/article/view/403ai value acquisitionartificial social intelligencehealth informaticsmachine learningmental healthsocializationtrust
spellingShingle J.A. Teixeira da Silva
Y. Yamada
Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
Central Asian Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ethics
ai value acquisition
artificial social intelligence
health informatics
machine learning
mental health
socialization
trust
title Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
title_full Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
title_fullStr Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
title_full_unstemmed Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
title_short Could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor? Prospects and limitations
title_sort could generative artificial intelligence serve as a psychological counselor prospects and limitations
topic ai value acquisition
artificial social intelligence
health informatics
machine learning
mental health
socialization
trust
url https://cajmhe.com/index.php/journal/article/view/403
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