Digital Therapists Get Stressed Too, Study Finds

Chatbots should be built with enough resilience to deal with difficult emotional situations, say researchers

- ALEXANDER NAZARYAN

EVEN CHATBOTS GET the blues. According to a new study, OpenAI's artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT shows signs of anxiety when its users share "traumatic narratives" about crime, war or car accidents. And when chatbots get stressed out, they are less likely to be useful in therapeutic settings with people. The bot's anxiety levels can be brought down, however, with the same mindfulness exercises that have been shown to work on humans. Increasingly, people are trying chatbots for talk therapy. The researchers said the trend is bound to accelerate, with flesh-and-blood therapists in high demand but short supply.