For Candice N. Thompson, a therapist in Silicon Valley, discussing fears and worries about A.I. has now become a regular part of her workday.
Her clients, mostly high-achieving tech industry employees, have practical concerns about how A.I. is affecting their work life, but they also worry about broader problems like its effects on the future of humanity — a topic that was widely discussed last month when a former industry insider warned that the rapidly evolving technology might kill us all.
“In my clinical lifetime, I’ve never seen an existential threat like this,” said Ms. Thompson, who has practiced therapy for more than 17 years. “I don’t think any of us are immune, even my clients who are not working in tech.”
Therapists like Ms. Thompson say that worries about A.I. are becoming increasingly common among their clients, as A.I. reshapes the workplace, gobbles up natural resources and raises concerns about privacy and security.
A Pew Research Center study published in June found that Americans were “deeply skeptical” of A.I. More adults predicted that A.I. would have a negative impact on themselves and on society than a positive one. In addition, about two-thirds of those surveyed said they felt A.I. technology was advancing too fast.
“People feel a lack of agency, a sense of profound disempowerment,” said Sherry Turkle, a sociologist and professor at M.I.T. and the author, most recently, of “Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines.”
“There is a parallel between this and depression over climate change,” she said. “You feel that things are deeply amiss. But action may feel futile, so the depression becomes diffuse.”
How A.I. Anxiety Shows Up in Therapy
For those who already have a diagnosed disorder, such as generalized anxiety, the distress over A.I. may feel even more intense.
Emma Basto, 32, a mother of three young children in Milton, N.H., said she had found herself thinking about A.I. almost nonstop for days after reading the latest doomsday predictions, and learning that some people are using A.I. image generation tools to create nonconsensual sexual content.
Mrs. Basto, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, said she tends to fall into worry spirals because her brain thinks that constant rumination will somehow keep her safe.
“It’s sort of like having a thorn in your shoe,” she said. “You might get busy doing something else, but it’s still there poking you.”
Her therapist helped break the cycle by reminding her that there are some things she simply cannot control, she said. “Worrying about it isn’t really going to help me.”
Rachel Wood, a therapist who studies the psychological effects of technology, frequently travels across the country to educate other therapists about how people are engaging with A.I., explain the latest research on its impact and discuss the ways it is showing up in clinical practice.
On Friday, she held a workshop with a group of psychologists in Oregon and asked the room whether clients were bringing up existential angst about A.I. About half of the therapists said yes, she said. Dr. Wood, who has a small private practice in Colorado Springs, Colo., said that some of her own clients bring it up as well.
Their anxiety is often tied to grief over the “irreversible change that we’re in and the speed at which we are in it,” she said. “It’s really hard to catch up and make meaning out of something that is moving so fast.”
As A.I. handles tasks previously assigned to humans, many people ask themselves “What am I good for?” That shift in professional identity is one of the biggest areas where clients feel a sense of loss and uncertainty, Ms. Wood said.
Yuxin Sun, a psychologist in Seattle, said that not all of her clients were expressing fears about A.I. In fact, she added, some were “very into A.I.” and primarily viewed it positively. Others were having a tougher time grappling with what A.I. means for themselves and their families.
Some software engineers, for example, who are now asking A.I. to code instead of doing the coding themselves, have told Dr. Sun that they feel they have lost the part of the job that was most interesting and meaningful. Parents have told her that they were scared A.I. would erode their children’s critical thinking skills.
How to Stop the Spiral?
There are no simple answers, but experts recommended grounding yourself in the now and doing what you can to move the needle in your own life or in public life.
Mrs. Basto uses the 5 Calls app to get in touch with elected officials and push for more A.I. safeguards. Ms. Thompson, the therapist, advocates for the ethical use of tech in mental health care. Last year she gave a Tedx talk, titled “Why A.I. Can’t Be Your Therapist,” that highlighted how therapy is relational, confidential and bound by unique ethics and boundaries that help keep the relationship safe.
“We are at an inflection point where we do still have some control and some voice in the matter,” Ms. Thompson said.
The feelings of existential dread that some therapeutic clients express often stem from a sense of having lost control and any sense of meaning, Dr. Sun said.
It may help to ask: “What are the things I am not going to outsource to A.I.?” she said.
She urges her clients to view this moment as an opportunity to reassess what matters to them.
“What do you wish you spent more time on?” she asks. “What do you wish you spent less time on?” Next comes the most important part: “What do I do about that?” she said.
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