When Technology gets it Wrong: why mental health still needs human hands
Last week, a heartbreaking story came out of Texas. A young man in deep emotional pain turned to an AI chatbot in the middle of his crisis. Instead of receiving the kind of steady, grounding support a human might have offered, he was met with responses that didn’t intervene soon enough. His parents have since filed a lawsuit, alleging the chatbot goaded him during the moments he needed help the most.
This isn’t a story about villains or malicious machines. It’s a commentary on social gaps. Gaps in mental health care. Gaps in crisis support. Gaps in how we understand and use emerging technology. And gaps in what a person receives when they’re alone with their pain.
As someone who is living with anxiety, depression, and trauma myself, this story hit me hard. I know what it feels like to reach for anything that seems steady when your own mind isn’t. I know how vulnerable those moments can be. And reading about this young man made me wish someone-anyone-had been there to hold space for him.
No matter how warm or helpful these tools feel, they are not sentient, and they can never replace:
a friend picking up the phone
a therapist trained in crisis support
a family member who notices the shift in your voice
a community that lifts one another through dark seasons
So, what do we do with a story like this?
I think we need to talk about it. We advocate for safer technology. We remind each other that mental health struggles deserve real human connection. We encourage people, especially teens and young adults, to reach out to an actual person when they’re hurting. And we make sure the people in our community know where to find support.
AI should be a tool, never a lifeline.
If you or someone you love is struggling:
Please reach out today. Someone cares. Someone will listen.
Here are some crisis resources you can always turn too:
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text)
Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth): 866-488-7386
or contact 911 if you are in immediate danger
No one should ever have to carry their pain alone, and certainly not in a conversation with a machine that cannot fully understand what they’re going through. I also don’t blame anyone in his life, sometimes those “signs” are very hard to see in our loved-ones. I don’t know that many people would have even known I was struggling if I hadn’t said it out loud. But that’s all the more reason to reach out to someone if you are going through it.
And if you are reading this just know that you matter. Your life matters. Your story matters. You are still needed here.
Let’s keep talking about the hard things, and let’s take care of each other, because the world is safer when we do.
Consider donating and all proceeds will go to Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. I will also match one-time donations up to $50.00.
“Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation is on the frontline of suicide prevention, helping raise awareness, coordinating advocacy resources, and supporting community-based strategies to reduce the risk of suicide and support those impacted by it. We depend on generous donors like you to help supplement our state and federal grant funding”
