A few days ago we saw the launching of GPT-4o, which starts the chat-box of the whole world. I heard that it is a huge step moving closer to be human-like now. It also tries to sound friend-like.
Yesterday I heard this question: can AI replace the complex dynamics of human psychology and counseling?
I remember a case of social worker at work. There was this guy who was super religious. He refused to take medicines because medicines are man-made, not created by God. The counselor told him, you are wrong. It is God who told Man to create this medicine for his children.
"How do you know it is God who told Man to create it?" "Remember God has plan for everything? This is part of his plan. It is not human plan. He orders the creation of medicine." In the end, the guy agreed to take the medicine.
While AI can excel on this type of job using logic and language, it falls short in understanding the depths of human emotion and experience. We humans are fully packed with complex emotions and the ever-flowing dark undercurrent of past experiences, which defy any simple categorization or quantification.
For example, a man was often neglected during his childhood. The experience impacts his adult life so that he becomes oversensitive when he feels ignored or neglected. Even he himself doesn't understand why. How would an AI find out what's wrong with the guy in the first place?
The complexity and nuances of human emotions, of how one feels is far beyond the reach of logic and language. Simply put it, AI can think like us but can't feel like us. It is created with language and logic but not with human understanding, empathy and intuition.
As we contemplate the role of AI in our lives, we might also consider its broader societal implications. How do we interact with AI systems, and how do they shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us? Does AI judge me as other humans do? These are questions that extend beyond the realm of technology, offering fertile ground for exploration by psychologists, sociologists, and ethicists alike.
In the end, while AI may be of some help in certain aspects of psychological counseling, it is our shared humanity—our capacity for empathy, feeling, understanding, belonging and connection—that remains at the heart of healing, growth and counseling.