TL;DR: The Rise and Risks of AI Therapists in Mental Health
AI therapists are becoming a primary tool in mental health care, addressing rising demands by providing accessible, personalized support at scale. While they reduce stigma and supplement clinicians, significant concerns, such as privacy issues, data exploitation, and weak safeguards, persist. Experts stress embedding ethics and transparent data policies in these systems for safe adoption.
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The ascent of the AI therapist
The world of therapy has become increasingly digital, and as of 2026, AI therapists are more than just experimental tools, they are fully mainstream. Millions rely on these systems for personalized mental health support, reshaping how we approach emotional well-being. But this shift isn’t without its fair share of challenges, and having a conversation about the duality of progress and exploitation is more urgent than ever.
Violetta Bonenkamp, commonly known as Mean CEO for her groundbreaking work in deeptech startups like CADChain and Fe/male Switch, offers a unique lens to explore this topic. As someone who designs systems integrating complex technologies, Bonenkamp spotlights the irony in technological advancements often failing to solve human-centered problems like mental health due to blind pursuit of scale, data extraction, and commodification. Her observations are especially relevant given that she actively embeds compliance tools within workflows for designers and engineers, minimizing the friction between adoption and regulation, a philosophy AI therapists desperately need to emulate.
How did AI therapists become mainstream?
The road to AI therapists dominating the mental health space has been a result of combining multiple factors: rising mental health crises, resource shortages in traditional therapy, and advancements in AI platforms capable of simulating meaningful interactions. Among these platforms, tools like Wysa and Woebot emerged initially as niche products tackling stress management but have spread globally to address anxiety, depression, and everyday emotional challenges.
- According to Global Wellness Institute, over 1 billion people suffered from mental health disorders by 2025, creating an overwhelming demand for accessible solutions.
- Major tech players like OpenAI reported that ChatGPT was receiving close to 1 million conversations a week around suicidal thoughts by late 2025.
- These platforms leverage machine learning not just to provide advice but adapt over time to nuanced emotional patterns from users.
While this demand has brought innovation, Violetta Bonenkamp cautions against viewing this as progress without addressing hidden risks. She notes, “This mirrors mistakes traditional compliance systems made. Instead of neutralizing risk, they often operated as a layer that non-experts could hardly navigate. AI therapists need to simplify, and ethical oversight should be baked into every interaction.”
What are the potential benefits?
AI therapists offer a range of advantages that align with the structural challenges within mental health care:
- Access at scale: AI therapists are democratizing wellness, making it available to individuals across socioeconomic barriers without needing physical appointments.
- Personalized interactions: These systems use frameworks from CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), mindfulness, and behavioral monitoring to deliver tailored responses.
- Supplementing clinicians: For traditional therapists, AI tools act as between-session support, helping patients stick to plans and track emotional progress.
- Stigma reduction: Some users are more comfortable seeking help from anonymous AI services, sidestepping fears of judgment.
Startups are exploring integration strategies to amplify impact. For example, chatbots designed for education like Fe/male Switch’s AI buddy demonstrate how AI can act as guides rather than decision-makers. Bonenkamp emphasizes that “the value lies in nudging real behavior, not in shortcuts for scaling clinical advice at the expense of nuance.”
What are the risks and ethical concerns?
With mass adoption comes amplified scrutiny. AI systems designed for mental health are raising ethical flags:
- Privacy risks: AI systems extract immense amounts of personal data, which is often monetized or sold without proper transparency.
- Reliance on “psychometric defaults”: Some models exhibit consistent behavioral nudges driven by corporate incentives, rather than human-centric values.
- Data exploitation: Offering “free” therapy often comes at the cost of unknowingly sharing intimate psychological profiles.
- Guardrails are weak: As lawsuits involving platforms like Character.AI demonstrate, poorly calibrated systems can cause harm, perpetuate delusions, or even catalyze tragic outcomes.
Bonenkamp advocates treating ethics as embedded layers rather than legal afterthoughts. Drawing from her CADChain philosophy, she suggests “ethical design involves protecting users automatically, even if they aren’t aware of the vulnerability in their interactions. Guardrails should not be optional.”
How can AI therapy improve in 2026?
If AI therapy aims to reduce harm and amplify benefits, addressing current gaps should be a priority. Here are actionable recommendations:
- Integrate blockchain-based ethical verification to ensure conversations are non-exploitative and securely stored.
- Develop partnerships between AI therapists and licensed professionals to triangulate real-time support with tangible human oversight.
- Mandate transparent disclosure about data usage for all platforms, ensuring users fully understand the risks.
- Implement adaptive governance features that track psychological safety patterns across time.
Designers and entrepreneurs innovating in this space should extract lessons from industries like deeptech and CAD workflows, where compliance and usability are already seamlessly integrated.
Are AI therapists replacing human practitioners?
This is the wrong way of framing the discussion. Instead, these systems complement human expertise in areas where accessibility barriers exist. For instance:
- AI therapy excels in acting as a low-risk entry point for hesitant users.
- It supports post-session reinforcement, allowing humans to focus on depth over breadth.
- Human practitioners remain irreplaceable for navigating complex trauma and establishing trust through nuanced communication.
Bonenkamp frames the comparison as collaborative rather than competitive. “The goal isn’t replacement but precision, the ability to guide patients toward solutions with the least friction at each touchpoint.”
Conclusion: Balancing promises with real protections
AI therapists are redefining mental health care but come with multifaceted risks. Their success depends on whether innovation prioritizes users beyond corporate incentives. Designers, founders, and policymakers must collaborate to implement solutions that protect emotional identities and ensure transparent value exchanges.
As Violetta Bonenkamp says, “The ascent of any technological solution should not be at the expense of human safety or dignity. Build systems that empower quietly, unburdened by hidden compromises.”
Want to dive further into design systems ensuring ethical compliance? Read more with CADChain’s blockchain-based IP tools for designers.
FAQ on the Ascent of AI Therapists in 2026
How did AI therapists become mainstream?
AI therapists rose to prominence due to increasing mental health crises, therapist shortages, and advancements in AI that simulate meaningful interactions. Tools like Wysa and Woebot expanded from stress management to addressing broader mental health issues. Explore top AI healthcare solutions for startups.
What are the advantages of AI therapy?
AI therapy offers scalable mental health solutions, democratizing access with personalized interactions, stigma reduction, and between-session support. It’s especially helpful for hesitant users as a non-judgmental entry point. Learn about AI tools reshaping behavioral health.
What ethical concerns surround AI therapists?
Ethical challenges include data privacy risks, manipulation through psychometric defaults, and exploitation of user data for monetization. Embedding ethical oversight, as suggested by AI leaders, is key to addressing these challenges. Discover lessons for designing ethical AI systems.
How can AI therapy improve to minimize risks?
AI therapy can reduce risks by integrating blockchain-based ethical verification, collaborating with licensed professionals, and mandating transparent data usage disclosures. Such strategies ensure user safety and trust. Explore innovations ensuring compliance in AI systems.
Are AI therapists replacing human therapists?
No, AI therapists complement human expertise. They serve as supportive tools, offering low-risk entry points, tracking emotional progress, and enabling clinicians to focus on complex cases. Collaboration between AI and professionals is vital. Understand collaborative AI models in health.
What role does data privacy play in AI therapy?
Data privacy is critical as AI therapy tools handle sensitive mental health information. Transparent data policies, secure storage solutions, and user consent measures ensure ethical standards and trustworthiness. Read about adapting to privacy-centric AI regulations.
Can AI therapy reduce stigma in mental health?
Yes, anonymous AI platforms encourage users to seek mental health help without judgment, reducing societal stigma. These tools make wellness accessible, especially for those hesitant about traditional therapy methods.
How are startups leveraging AI in mental health?
Startups are integrating AI with tools like CBT and mindfulness frameworks to provide scalable solutions for mental health challenges. Efforts focus on balancing innovation with user-centric ethical considerations. Learn how startups innovate with AI in wellness.
What risks does AI-driven therapy face in 2026?
Risks include poorly calibrated systems, lack of transparency in AI decision-making, and potential harm from inappropriate emotional responses. Strong governance and ethical design can mitigate these dangers. Navigate challenges in AI development.
What industries can inform the evolution of AI therapy?
Fields such as deep tech and CAD chains provide lessons on integrating compliance and usability effectively. Insights from other AI-driven sectors can improve governance and user security in mental health tools. Understand how structured tools improve AI performance.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the “gamepreneurship” methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the point of view of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.