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As many turn to artificial intelligence (AI) for companionship and advice, OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman has issued a stark warning against using its popular chatbot, ChatGPT, for therapeutic purposes
In an interview with American stand-up comedian and podcaster Theo Von, Altman cautioned users that the platform is not yet a suitable tool for mental health support, highlighting concerns over reliability and, crucially, a lack of privacy.
The warning came in response to ChatGPT users who have started using the AI chatbot for therapy.
Altman urged caution, explaining that it is “not a great idea to use it for this purpose yet”
“People talk about the most personal sh*t in their lives to ChatGPT. People use it — young people, especially, use it — as a therapist, a life coach; having these relationship problems and [asking] what should I do?
“Right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever. And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT,” he added.
This serves as a critical reminder for users who might share personal and confidential information with the chatbot, assuming their data is protected
The company’s privacy policy notes that it may use conversations to train its models, although users can opt out of this.
And then, there’s the legal aspect of the usage of AI for therapy.
“No one had to think about that even a year ago, and now I think it’s this huge issue of like, ‘How are we gonna treat the laws around this?'” Altman revealed.
Watch the interview here:
Sam Altman tells Theo Von about how people use ChatGPT as a therapist and there needs to be new laws on chat history privacy:
“If you go talk to ChatGPT about your most sensitive stuff and then there’s a lawsuit, we could be required to produce that.”pic.twitter.com/xbqiMsx5Du
— Bearly AI (@bearlyai) July 27, 2025