Risks Associated with Artificial Intelligence in Professional Psychology

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Research is often “me-search” (Altenmüller, Lange, & Gollwitzer, 2021, p. 1), in that our identities can influence our interest in, and understanding of, science (e.g., Sagan, 1995). In this case, the authorship team which developed this manuscript was made up of a mix of acceptance, skills, and uncertainty regarding the nature of technology in general, and AI specifically. Specifically, the team is made up of three graduate students (one clinical mental health counseling MS, two counseling psychology Phd.) and one senior counseling psychology faculty member. The second author, a male member of Generation Z, has grown up with the technology which gave rise to AI and as such considers it a normal, even required, part of everyday life. He has been privileged by the immediate access to information brought by access to this technology, and has developed an appreciation for its role in his development. Next, as a male member of Generation Z and an international doctoral student in counseling psychology, the third author has greatly benefited from AI applications in learning new languages and cultures. Like many digital natives, he experiences the increasing integration of technology into daily life, with his cellphone often feeling like an extension of his body. Although he embraces technological advancements, he is also concerned about AI’s growing influence on the psychology profession and the broader job market. At the same time, he remains uncertain about the ethical and professional boundaries of AI use in psychological practice. Similarly, as a cusp-millennial woman, the fourth author has been watching the rise of technology in real time for much of her life. Seeing how quickly AI has become popular across a variety of avenues has been startling to her, and as someone with a background in the legal field ethical concerns within the profession are paramount. All told, these developing professionals brought to the drafting of this manuscript an awareness of how clinicians, students, and supervisors were (somewhat wantonly) using AI systems in the course of their professional activities despite the lack of any professional or ethical guidance regarding best practices or an awareness of the social privileges associated with such use. The lead author, in turn, is an older Caucasian male well-known on campus as being quite leery of technology, mostly because a lifetime of consuming science fiction has shown him how an overreliance on such technology can go badly for humanity (Star Trek and Asimov’s Three Laws notwithstanding). More importantly, he has recently found himself confronted with graduate students questioning what role AI should play in their work. The lack of a significant extant literature on this issue surprised him, and this contributed to his inability to advise these students as to what might constitute best practices regarding how to ethically incorporate AI into their professional training, clinical work, or academic experiences. He became concerned, as it seemed that psychologists were, in effect, surrendering to the technological conveniences (e.g., deskilling, Farmer et al., p. 21) associated with AI without reflecting on the costs to our clients, our profession, and to humanity in general. In the end, the team tried to adopt Kissinger’s (2024) suggested balance between blind faith and unjustified fear. We approached AI’s impact on psychology with an understanding that, barring a revolt of AI systems and any subsequent war on humanity (e.g., Cameron, 1984), AIs impact on the profession of psychology, heretofore only hinted at (e.g., Illovsky, 1994; Luxton, 2014, 2016a; Sharf, 1985) seems quite inevitable and that the positives may in fact outweigh the negatives. As such, AI systems are poised to transform our work, provided of course that we have reflected on what that technology says about humanity, as well as properly considered the risks, benefits, and yes even meanings inherent to the development and the deployment of such advanced systems.

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