Abstract
Current developments in artificial intelligence (AI) for mental health have raised important ethical debates around its uses in psychotherapy, including how and under what circumstances AI may be valuable to improve and expand access to psychotherapy. This chapter discusses the use of chatbots and AI tools as supplements to psychotherapy delivered by persons, and as supervised primary treatments. It presents ethical guidelines and standards for AI and mobile apps in mental health, and discusses how these developments are relevant in the ethics of AI in psychotherapy. Current discussions on the role of chatbots and other AI tools for mental health rely mostly on a perspective of justice. The chapter aims to enrich the debate by complementing a perspective of justice with one of care and using both approaches to reflect on the topics of respect of autonomy, access to treatment, non-discrimination, and fulfillment of people’s needs and care. It argues that trustworthy AI tools may help to establish caring relationships between therapist and patient, and contribute to the therapeutic process.
Manriquez Roa, Tania