AI: A digital shoulder to lean on

As technology steps into the therapist’s shoes, people are turning to AI for emotional relief. But can a machine understand human pain?

You might think that AI imitating psychotherapists is a new phenomenon. However, as early as 1966, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum created a chatbot that would simulate the responses of a psychotherapist. According to the Guardian , using an electric typewriter connected to a mainframe, users could type their thoughts and receive automated, supportive replies—an early glimpse of how humans could form emotional attachment with machines.