Conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) presents many opportunities in the psychotherapeutic landscape—such as therapeutic support for people with mental health problems and without access to care. The adoption of CAI poses many risks that need in-depth ethical scrutiny. The objective of this paper is to complement current research on the ethics of AI for mental health by proposing a holistic, ethical, and epistemic analysis of CAI adoption. First, we focus on the question of whether CAI is rather a tool or an (...) agent. This question serves as a framework for the subsequent ethical analysis of CAI focusing on topics of (self-) knowledge, (self-)understanding, and relationships. Second, we propose further conceptual and ethical analysis regarding human-AI interaction and argue that CAI cannot be considered as an equal partner in a conversation as is the case with a human therapist. Instead, CAI’s role in a conversation should be restricted to specific functions. (shrink)

A review of Edward Winters‘s Aesthetics and Architecture (London: Continuum, 2007, 179 pp. ISBN 0826486320).

This paper focuses on Sinophobia which is usually not expressed openly in the public service media. The Sinophobia discourse intensified in 2020 in connection with the coverage of the pandemic. How are anti-Chinese attitudes expressed in the news discourse of the Czech Radio and Czech Television? Examples from a broader analysis of the representation of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in news and journalism programmes are given. Inductive qualitative research methods (discourse and semiotic analysis) were used to detect subtle nuances of meaning (...) and reveal implicit presuppositions. This study focuses on the manifestations of bias, e.g., the ideologically grounded attitudes of the speakers. The anti-Chinese statements (about poor hygiene habits and eating wild animals) were most often mentioned in connection with the origin of the coronavirus, vaccination, and China expansive policy. Sinophobic messages were built on the opposition of Us and Them, which is, according to van Dijk (2000), the core of new racism. In spite of the fact that the open hate speech and systematic bias (intentional implications, obvious evaluation or signposting) were not found in the researched sample, the analysis identified the presence of Sinophobic statements in both public service media. (shrink)

While many Western countries do legally permit homebirths under certain conditions, in the Slovak Republic they exist in a legal vacuum – they are neither permitted nor prohibited. In the present study, we aimed to explore how Slovak women who deliberately delivered at home perceive the reason for this decision and the subsequent homebirth itself. We interviewed eight women aged 21 to 36 and analysed the transcripts using the interpretative phenomenological analysis framework. The analysis revealed four major themes – (1) (...) the sacredness of childbirth, (2) the aspiration to be the director of your childbirth, (3) homebirth as an expression of the need for intimacy, and (4) the struggle with one’s social circle. Childbirth is seen as an ultimate act of nature defined by its beauty and purity, but these qualities are tainted by biomedical approach of healthcare providers. The results of this study suggest that women’s needs of autonomy, relatedness, and inclusion are not properly met by Slovak health care and obstetrics. Stricter adherence to the principle of informed consent during hospital births, and legalisation and regulation of homebirths could reduce medical risks during childbirth and improve women’s mental well-being during and after a pivotal moment in their life. (shrink)

There is robust scientific evidence from meta-analyses in psychotherapy research that common factors such as the alliance between patients and therapists, empathy, goal consensus/collaboration, positive regard/affirmation and genuineness have a much greater effect on the overall psychotherapy outcome than the so-called specific factors like particular treatment methods or ingredients of therapy.1 The current evidence base also suggests that the effects of telepsychiatric treatment are comparable with those of face-to-face treatment, not only regarding clinical outcome parameters but also with respect to (...) patient satisfaction, acceptance and adherence—all common factors of psychotherapy.2 According to a comprehensive review of the main ethical arguments for and against different forms of online psychotherapy, the online setting provides several weighty advantages: for example, increased access, availability, flexibility, convenience, satisfaction, acceptance and increased demand.3 Among the arguments against online psychotherapy, privacy, confidentiality and data security issues, emergency issues, as well as communication issues have been mentioned.3 Frittgen and Haltaufderheide 4 are concerned that telepsychiatry could ‘impact ethically relevant aspects of the therapeutic relationship’. They conclude that ‘there is evidence for ethically relevant changes of the therapeutic relationship in video-based telepsychiatric consultations’,4 particularly pertaining to ‘respect for autonomy, lucidity, fidelity, justice and humanity towards each other’.4 Indeed, video-based consultations as technically mediated communication ‘do not only transmit but transform what can be perceived, …. (shrink)

Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) consider conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) as a new way of providing psychotherapy to patients. This is an important topic, and Sedlakova and Trachsel have...

Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) discuss the ethical concerns associated with employing what they term conversational artificial intelligence as therapist substitutes. Given their apprehensions, they...

Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) identify a major benefit of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) in psychotherapy as its ability to expand access to mental healthcare for vulnerable populatio...

Sedlakova and Traschel (2023) propose limiting the scope and capabilities of psychotherapy-delivering conversational artificial intelligence (CAI), as (1) they deceive some users into thinking they...

Sedlakova and Traschel argue that conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) is more than a mere tool, but not quite an agent, as it “simulates having a therapeutic conversation [but] does not re...

Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) advocate for a holistic approach to assessing ethical application of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) in mental health therapy. They first describe CAI as...

Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) argue that on the one hand, conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) does not fulfill the necessary conditions for full attribution of agency, such as having consc...

Sedlakova and Trachsel (hereafter referred to as “the authors”) argue that conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) in psychotherapy presents an ethical challenge as a tool with aspects of agen...

In their article, Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) propose a holistic, ethical, and epistemic analysis of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) in psychotherapeutic settings. They mainly descri...

I thank Jane Sedlakova and Manuel Trachsel for their work on situating conversational artificial intelligence’s (CAI) potential role in psychotherapy. In their article, Sedlakova and Trachsel argue...

We applaud Sedlakova and Trachsel’s work and their description of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) as possessing a hybrid nature with features of both a tool and an agent (Sedlakova and...

When used in psychotherapy, Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) hypothesize that conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) ought to be considered as a new and hybrid artifact somewhere on a spectrum b...

In their thought-provoking article, Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) defend the view that the status—both epistemic and ethical—of Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI) used in psychotherapy is complicated. While therapeutic CAI seems to be more than a mere tool implementing particular therapeutic techniques, it falls short of being a “digital therapist.” One of the main arguments supporting the latter claim is that even though “the interaction with CAI happens in the course of conversation… the conversation is profoundly different from a conversation with (...) a human therapist” (Sedlakova and Trachsel 2023, 8). In particular, unlike a human therapist, CAI cannot help its users gain new insight and self-understanding (Sedlakova and Trachsel 2023). We agree that currently available therapeutic CAI cannot be considered a “digital therapist,” however, we think that the issue surrounding the acquisition of new self-understanding in the interaction with therapeutic CAI is more complicated than Sedlakova and Trachsel suggest. (shrink)

In their paper, “Conversational Artificial Intelligence in Psychotherapy: A New Therapeutic Tool or Agent?” Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) claim that therapeutic insights and therapeutic changes are...

In their careful analysis of conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) in psychotherapy, Sedlakova and Trachsel (2023) propose a framework for the ethical evaluation of such technologies that lo...

It is an understatement to say we live in an exciting time considering the increasingly widespread applications of artificial intelligence (AI). This observation is brought to the fore by Sedlakova...