Should my Chatbot Health Coach be Certified and Regulated?

Abstract

Artificial intelligence shows both perils and promises as a way to address the difficulties in accessing professional support such as health coaching and health counseling. Chatbots are being used by millions of users to address their loneliness, to provide emotional support and to provide coaching and motivation. This editorial reviews the ethics and controversies attendant to the use of AI in mental health. ChatGPT is put to the test by this author, a trained health coach, who came away impressed with a Bot’s capacity for connecting psychological theories to the practice of health coaching. Still, many unanswered questions need the attention of health promotion professionals to help distinguish between the benefits compared to the risks of employing AI in health coaching and mental health counseling.