Digital Therapists Get Stressed Too, Study Finds

March 18, 2025

A friendly looking robot

(New York Times) – Chatbots should be built with enough resilience to deal with difficult emotional situations, researchers said.

Even chatbots get the blues. According to a new study, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT shows signs of anxiety when its users share “traumatic narratives” about crime, war or car accidents. And when chatbots get stressed out, they are less likely to be useful in therapeutic settings with people.

The bot’s anxiety levels can be brought down, however, with the same mindfulness exercises that have been shown to work on humans. (Read More)