{
  "id": 3050448,
  "title": "Study finds AI chatbots can conduct basic therapy sessions but struggle to adapt to individual needs",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/study-finds-ai-chatbots-can-conduct-basic-therapy-sessions-but",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-24T15:00:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/study-finds-ai-chatbots-can-conduct-basic-therapy-sessions-but-struggle-to-adapt-to-individual-needs/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study reveals that artificial intelligence chatbots can engage in basic therapy sessions, but they face difficulties in adapting to individual patient needs. The research, published in Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, indicates that language models can perform as well as human therapists in controlled settings, but their capacity to tailor psychological techniques to unique individuals remains inconsistent. The global mental health crisis, with hundreds of millions of people affected and limited access to care, has prompted experts to explore technology as a potential solution. Large language models, a type of AI trained on extensive text data, could expand access to personalized treatments, according to the study's authors. However, the effectiveness of these models in real-world therapy sessions has not been thoroughly examined. Prior research mostly focused on brief, controlled scenarios, which does not reflect the dynamic nature of clinical practice. To address this gap, researchers conducted an observational study involving 65 university students with mild to moderate psychological distress. These participants completed a 30-minute in-person session with an AI chatbot designed to deliver Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The chatbot's performance was evaluated using a standardized assessment tool, which measures therapeutic skills such as warmth, understanding, and application of targeted techniques. The chatbot's overall competence score was slightly below the threshold for adequate clinical performance, and there was significant variability in its skillfulness across different sessions. While the chatbot's performance was lower than human practitioners, the gap diminished when compared to the broader pool of human professionals.",
  "summary": "Can a computer deliver effective psychotherapy? New research indicates that while AI chatbots display remarkable empathy, they struggle to consistently adapt specific cognitive behavioral techniques to individual users during live therapy sessions.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}