Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images
Psychologist Kami Winkelspecht decided to look into artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Gemini after patients started asking her for advice on how they could use the technology responsibly.
“One of the interesting questions that kids and teens especially have been asking is how you can use AI to support ideas, the editing process or similar things for documents, assignments and presentations, but also make sure you don't use it to write something for yourself. [so] that you are not violating your school's honor code,” says Winkelspecht, a child and adolescent psychologist in private practice in Wilmington, Delaware.
“So I also started experimenting with them to see what these tools would do,” she says, so that she could feel “confident and comfortable” in her own understanding of these platforms and their benefits and risks.
Winkelspecht is among the 56% of recent psychologists. American Psychological Association survey who use artificial intelligence tools in their practice. That's significantly higher than the 29% who said the same last year. And nearly a third of respondents said they use these tools monthly—more than double the number last year.
Winkelspecht uses AI in some of her office and administrative tasks, such as creating templates for letters she should send to her employees – schools and pediatricians. This saves her time, but she can still write and edit letters every time.
Most psychologists “use AI to write emails, to help design homework assignments, to help maybe write reports, or to use AI scribes to help with documentation,” the psychologist says. Vale WrightSenior Director, APA Office of Health Innovation.
“Psychologists are seeing potential opportunities to incorporate AI into their practice, making their work more efficient, which we think could have the downstream effect of reducing burnout and reducing aspects of the workplace that people don’t particularly enjoy,” she adds. “And it would give them more time to actually provide care to patients. So I think it's really promising.”
Wright says that as more psychologists adopt AI tools, awareness of AI tools is growing, especially with regard to patient safety and data privacy.
The majority of psychologists said they were concerned about the potential harms of this technology, with more than 60% saying they were concerned about potential data leaks, biased inputs and outputs, and social harm. Many have also expressed concerns about delusions, where platforms fabricate facts or provide inaccurate information.
“It is clear to us that we need to continue to provide members with both resources so they can effectively and responsibly implement these types of technologies,” Wright says. “And we must ensure that these technologies are regulated in a way that maximizes the safety and effectiveness of their capabilities.”
