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Transforming Student/Learning Supports
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & SCHOOL THERAPEUTIC COUNSELING
Stephen Hawking stressed that AI will be “either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity.”
What’s your view about this or any ot our hot topics, hot issues, or commentaries? And what do you recommend schools do?
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Ltaylor@ucla.edu
Folks are arguing the pros and cons of using AI, but AI not only isn’t going away, it is rapidly changing our lives. And the questions that need answering are about how best to maximize uses and minimize harm.
For schools, a variety of issues arise related to mental health therapeutic counseling. Here are examples of positive uses and potential problems being discussed:
Positives
AI is seen as helping with
>doing administrative and clerical tasks
>producing apps/aids/tools
>training counselors and other school staff to identify and assist students in need
>gathering and analyzing data to identify a student’s needs
>planing and implementing personalized counseling
>making counseling more available and accessible to everyone, especially underserved populations
>reducing costs
The American Counseling Association has concluded: The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including machine learning and natural language generation, in counseling practice offers significant potential for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. Embracing AI in counseling practice has the potential to revolutionize the field, increasing efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining ethical standards.
The Association offers a set of guidelines to help counselors “navigate the integration of AI in a way that maximizes benefits for both clients and practitioners, all while upholding the highest standards of professional conduct ... to enhance the quality of care and support provided to clients.”
Concerns include
>the need more evidence on cost-effectiveness, including ethical matters
>counselors using technology without proper training
>maintaining confidentiality of sensitive student information and other privacy issues
>truly informed consent
>lack of human connection and relationship building
>countering misdiagnoses and misprescriptions
>algorithm biases related to race, culture, gender, age, disabilities
>perpetuation pathological biases
>underemphasis on factors external to students that cause emotional, behavior, and learning problems
>technology malfunctions during a session
>system hacking
Olawade and colleagues (2024)* caution that AI “advancements are accompanied by ethical challenges concerning privacy, bias mitigation, and the preservation of the human element in therapy.
*See “Enhancing mental health with Artificial Intelligence: Current trends and future prospects,
Journal of Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health, 3 – Explores the integration of AI
into mental healthcare, elucidating current trends, ethical considerations, and future directions.
For references relevant to this discussion, see the Center’s Quick Find on
>Technology as an Intervention Tool
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