Over the last few weeks—maybe even months—I’ve come across reports that the most common use of AI, or more specifically ChatGPT, has been for therapy. If I’m honest, I understand why. Firstly, as much as we advocate for more of us to embrace professional mental health services, they can be far too expensive. Then, if you try to go down the NHS route, you could be waiting the best part of a year to access support. So I understand why people are turning to AI.

Yet I still feel startled by the fact that so many people are using ChatGPT as a source of therapy and connection. Despite therapy being difficult to access, as black women and black people, I believe it’s vital we leave space for scepticism when using AI in this way. The truth is, we must be aware that AI carries gender and racial bias. It’s common knowledge that AI still struggles to recognise black faces. And the voice technology—often created by men—is better at detecting male voices.