Do You Need An Emotional Support Robot?

I tested the new wave of artificial-intelligence “therapists” and here’s what happened.

- Kara Cuzzone

“Hang on, I have to text my robot therapist back” is a sentence I never thought I’d use. Until I did. A lot.

Apps like Woebot, Youper, and Wysa made this happen— they help people like me manage anxiety or other issues like relationship problems, depression, grief, addiction, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Via artificial intelligence, they chat with users and offer wellness tips, activities like meditation, and therapeutic strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT.

Just like you, my first thought was Uh, okay....I pay about $100 every two weeks to see a human therapist, so the idea of texting my innermost thoughts to a robot seemed weird (would my feels be saved for blackmail?) and unhelpful (could a robo really understand me?). Then I read the reviews.

People claim their virtual shrinks feel like friends and have “changed their lives.” The idea that I could spend $0 and still get life-altering care was suddenly very intriguing. I wasted no time.

R2-D2, but make it therapy

“Hi, I’m Woebot! It’s great to meet you, Kara!” Cue an animation of a mini robot waving on my screen. Not gonna lie: So far, so cute. Then things took a turn. The app abruptly told me that to keep chatting, it needed me to consent to its privacy policy, confirm I was at least 18, and agree I understood how it would use my data and that it wasn’t a crisis service or replacement for an actual therapist.