Understandable position. But I've come to an alternate perspective after studying hypnotherapy and working with therapists over the past year. In a sense, all c

Understandable position. But I've come to an alternate perspective after studying hypnotherapy and working with therapists over the past year. In a sense, all conversations are with ourselves. We create a mental model of the other person in our minds when conversing. A tool that helps people explore their own mind by facilitating these anthropomorphic models could prove immensely valuable for personal growth. As long as people understand they're talking to a bot, it could potentially allow for deeper introspection without the fear of judgement. A lot of the initial friction in therapy is getting people comfortable in sharing the deeper truth vs saying what they think they are expected to say to another human. As for the need for the bot to act as a human, I think this is actually important to the efficacy. Our minds are evolved to anthropomorphize everything. A well trained bot will help people feel like they are talking directly to specific personas within their own mind. I don't think it will replace therapists, but I do think it will significantly aid in two ways: 1) helping more people get started with therapy, 2) as a companion tool for work between sessions with a live human.