'I can cry without feeling stigma': meet the people turning to AI chatbots for therapy

Last autumn, Christa, a 32-year-old from Florida with a warm voice and a slight southern twang, was floundering. She had lost her job at a furniture company and moved back home with her mother. Her nine-year relationship had always been turbulent; lately, the fights had been escalating and she was thinking of leaving. She didn't feel she could be fully honest with the therapist she saw once a week, but she didn't like lying, either. Nor did she want to burden her friends: she struggles with social anxiety and is cautious about oversharing. So one night in October she logged on to character.ai From a list of possible attributes, she made her bot "caring", "supportive" and "intelligent".