1 Sep 2025

Feature interview: Risks of substituting machines for therapy.

From Afternoons, 3:15 pm on 1 September 2025
Laura Reiley

Photo: Cherie Diez

More and more, people are turning to artificial intelligence for companionship and even therapy. 29-year-old Sophie Rottenberg did. She turned to a therapy chatbot nicknamed Harry when she started to experience a bewildering mix of anxiety and depression. She was also seeing a therapist in person.

She told the AI Chatbot about her plans to end her life. And then she did. Her Mum, Laura Reiley is a writer at Cornell University and shared Sophie's story in an essay for The New York Times. In the aftermath of her only child's death, Reiley is not only grieving Sophie, but also reckoning with difficult questions about the risks of substituting machines for human care. 

Mental health

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