Recently, there have been discussions in the corners of the internet about AI therapists. The idea feels novel at first glance, but in reality it isn’t. We already know AI can learn from books, art, audio recordings including music, and just about any form of human-readable format.

A small footnote, before we continue, on articles that mention AI therapists:

• Can AI Therapy Replace a Real Therapist?
• AI therapists don’t judge, sleep or need an appointment — but experts urge it be used with caution

On the surface, this discussion might seem overly dramatic. After all, it’s not like you step outside and immediately notice these issues. In fact, if such problems were visible everywhere, it would mean governments and health institutions had already failed to act. Take loneliness, for example, especially among men, which is on the rise and which nobody seems to care about. But loneliness isn’t one-dimensional. When you analyze it more deeply, you start asking: what kind of lives do individuals lead? Do they go out often? Do they socialize meaningfully? There are different perspectives on loneliness.

You can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. The presence of a friend or relative doesn’t necessarily erase that sense of inadequacy. Sometimes connections exist only on the surface—people are “there,” but not in a way that allows for deeper discussion or genuine relatability.

But there’s even a greater concern: Trust

Can I really trust individuals with my mental issues?

For anyone with trust issues, the natural answer is “no”. Even I don’t fully trust psychologists to remain non-judgmental while guiding me or anyone. Depending on where you live, expressing yourself openly might be difficult, and finding someone to confide in can feel impossible. You never truly know if the person is trustworthy.

The bottom line for me is this: yes, there are real issues, but they often get overshadowed or undermined. The internet doesn’t make it easier to see them clearly. Sometimes genuine concerns are drowned out by organizations or individuals whose agenda is to exacerbate them rather than resolve them. Social media, Reddit in particular, has taught me that the person behind the keyboard is often the last person you should trust. Heck, social media networks themselves have been, in my opinion, a cancer the moment they became these hubs of masses, where on paper it is cool to meet other individuals, but the reality is that social media is so vulnerable to manipulation that the companies running them barely do anything about it. Why? In my mind, it is because controversy brings money. Any clicks on social media mean more ads being viewed.

Societal issues, if they’re to be addressed, need to be expressed within the same community. For example, Americans engaging with other Americans to raise concerns and promote dialogue. The best way to do this isn’t through the internet—it’s by engaging with your real-life communities. It’s far easier to spot a troublemaker face-to-face than to trust a random stranger online to tell you “how people feel.”

As to how it all connects on loneliness, trust, and AI therapists: AI itself would never reveal anything. Sure, your information is given to the wrong parties who have no modicum of decency and would harvest all your information for other parties. Yet, people rely on AI and tell it the concerns of everyday life, insecurities. There was a joke a long time ago that “Google knows more about you than yourself, or any relative.” It remains true even though Google would never admit it as they would be shooting themselves in the foot.

So, do people care at all about privacy? No, I think that if a person is in distress and using an AI therapist helps the individual, then the benefits outweigh the privacy concerns. I do think that in 10-20 years, over-reliance will spike and society will be more isolated.

Because… humans can’t be trusted? I don’t know. I think these topics are linked and share a pattern. And I could be completely wrong. Things with AI are moving too fast and it is hard to tell how things will be in 10 years.