The Rich Can Afford Personal Care. The Rest Will Have to Make Do With AI

The burgeoning field of social-emotional AI is tackling the very jobs that people used to think were reserved for human beings--jobs that rely on emotional connections, such as therapists, teachers, and coaches. AI is now widely used in education and other human services. Vedantu, an Indian web-based tutoring platform valued at 1 billion, uses AI to analyze student engagement, while a Finnish company has created "Annie Advisor," a chatbot working with more than 60,000 students, asking how they are doing, offering help, and directing them to services. Berlin-based startup clare&me offers an AI audio bot therapist it calls "your 24/7 mental health ally," while in the UK, Limbic has a chatbot "Limbic Care" that it calls "the friendly therapy companion." This story is from the WIRED World in 2025, our annual trends briefing.