Since the expansion of use cases for ChatGPT, there have been discussions regarding whether this signifies the end for human therapists and if GPT-4 surpasses psychologists in terms of intelligence.

A recent study suggests that ChatGPT can potentially rival human therapists in certain aspects of psychotherapy. The research, which appears in PLOS Mental Health, explores the capabilities of ChatGPT in comparison to responses from a panel of mental health experts.

The study involved a large sample of 830 participants who were asked to differentiate between responses to couple therapy vignettes written by ChatGPT 4.0 and those written by clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and a psychiatrist. 

The results indicated that participants could barely tell the difference between responses written by ChatGPT and responses written by a therapist. Moreover, the AI-generated responses were generally rated higher in key psychotherapy principles. 

When gauging the results regarding stats, the study mentions, “Identification within authors was poor, with participants correctly guessing that the therapist was the author 56.1% of the time and participants correctly guessing that ChatGPT was the author 51.2% of the time.” It further states, “Between authors, participants were only able to correctly identify therapists 5% more often than ChatGPT (56.1% versus 51.2%, respectively).”

The research emphasises the linguistic distinctions between ChatGPT’s replies and those of therapists, noting that ChatGPT exhibits a high level of empathy.

The study suggests that “ChatGPT has the potential to improve psychotherapeutic processes.” The study notes that one practical application of GenAI is in web-based interventions for couples, where an automated chatbot could provide evidence-based support, expanding the reach and dissemination of such programs.

In addition to the interesting success rate, the study acknowledges limitations, including the absence of a therapeutic context and the need for supervision during the training process to ensure participant safety. 

The authors call for continued research to improve the usefulness of psychotherapeutic applications using chatbots like ChatGPT, potentially placing them in the hands of individuals who need them the most.