Surprising Twist That Entire Families Are Now Opting To Use AI For Their Mental Health Guidance - Forbes

In today’s column, I examine a newly emerging trend that might be quite surprising: entire families are turning to generative AI and large language models (LLMs) as their mental health advisors. The idea is that each family member opts to tap into AI to get mental health guidance. The parents do so. The kids do so. It is a kind of family affair.

Why would families choose to go this path? First, it is easy and inexpensive. Second, unlike engaging with a human therapist, the family members can use the AI on a 24/7 basis, doing so whenever they wish. Third, the family might have a strident belief that AI will aid their individual and collective challenges, serve each member, and yet also aid the family unit as a whole. Though this might seem like a great way to proceed, numerous downsides exist. It is one thing for a family to pursue therapy with licensed therapists, and a whole different ballgame when relying on AI. This is not some idle fare -- the family is heaping trust in AI that could regrettably backfire on them.

Let’s talk about it. This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

AI And Mental Well-Being

As a quick background, I’ve been extensively covering and analyzing a myriad of facets regarding the advent of modern-era AI that produces mental health advice and performs AI-driven therapy. This rising use of AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI. For an extensive listing of my well over one hundred analyses and postings, see the link here and the link here.

There is little doubt that this is a rapidly developing field and that there are tremendous upsides to be had, but at the same time, regrettably, hidden risks and outright gotchas come into these endeavors, too. I frequently speak up about these pressing matters, including in an appearance on an episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes; see the link here.

AI Providing Mental Health Guidance

Millions upon millions of people are using generative AI as their ongoing advisor on mental health considerations (note that ChatGPT alone has over 900 million weekly active users, a notable proportion of whom dip into mental health aspects; see my analysis at the link here). The top-ranked use of contemporary generative AI and LLMs is to consult with the AI on mental health facets; see my coverage at the link here.

This popular usage makes abundant sense. You can access most of the major generative AI systems for nearly free or at a super low cost, doing so anywhere and at any time. Thus, if you have any mental health qualms that you want to chat about, all you need to do is log in to AI and proceed forthwith on a 24/7 basis.

There are significant worries that AI can readily go off the rails or otherwise dispense unsuitable or even egregiously inappropriate mental health advice. Banner headlines last year accompanied the lawsuit filed against OpenAI for their lack of AI safeguards when it came to providing cognitive advisement.

Today’s generic LLMs, such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot, and others (all known as general-purpose AI or GPAI), are not at all akin to the robust capabilities of human therapists. Meanwhile, specialized LLMs are being built to attain similar qualities (known as purpose-built AI or PBAI), but they are still primarily in the development and testing stages. See my coverage at the link here.

Traditional Therapy For Families

Let’s discuss traditional human-to-human therapy in the context of families. Sometimes, families choose to see a human therapist for two or more members of the family. It could be that one family member starts the ball rolling. Another family member opts to subsequently also seek therapy. An entire family could end up doing so, though this is somewhat rare.

In a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), entitled “The Implementation of Family-Focused Mental Health Care” by Christel M. Middeldorp, Laura de Nooij, JAMA Psychiatry, April 29, 2026, these salient points were made (excerpts):

- “Family-focused mental health care remains uncommon.”

- “Although it is well established that family members of individuals with mental disorders are at risk for mental health problems, neither adult mental health services (AMHS) nor child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) have integrated this knowledge into their practices.”

- “This is a missed opportunity for preventing and optimally managing mental health problems in both children and parents.”

- “We advocate for the broad implementation of a family-focused approach across AMHS and CAMHS and outline what this could look like.”

The gist is that having a whole family engaged in therapy at the same time is quite out of the ordinary. There could be several reasons why this doesn’t tend to materialize. One reason is that the cost could be prohibitive. Having each family member pay to see a therapist could readily rack up significant charges. Another complication is the logistics of when each family member goes to see their therapist. The family therapy situation can be fraught with bumps in the road.

AI Mental Health And The Family

I’ve previously noted that there are several ways that families might be impacted by the advent of AI for mental health.

One angle is whether a family member opts to divulge to the other members of the family that they are using AI for their mental health guidance; see my in-depth analysis at the link here. It could be that a family member would prefer the matter to remain private. They withhold telling other family members about using AI for mental health purposes. There could also be a semblance of possible embarrassment or a worry that they might be ridiculed by their fellow family members.

The aspect of divulging to fellow family members that one or more are using AI for mental health advice is classified in one of these three ways:

- (1) Hidden or secretive. None of the family members realizes that the others are using AI for mental health advice.

- (2) Subdued signaling. Two or more family members are aware of AI usage going on, but it is characterized as being subtle, even if it is much more pronounced.

- (3) Outright awareness. All the family members are openly aware that the family is using AI for mental health.

Another perspective regarding families and the use of AI for mental health involves having one member recommend the use of AI to a fellow family member; see my discussion at the link here. The member who is doing the recommending is not necessarily using AI for that purpose. Instead, they might simply know of or have heard that AI can be used in that fashion. They figure it is an easy and quick way for a fellow family member to get free or nearly free advice. This might also serve as a first step toward the family member opting to engage in the use of a human therapist.

Finally, an additional consideration has arisen due to advances in AI. Popular LLMs such as ChatGPT now provide group chat capabilities. This is significant for the family aspects. Whereas a conventional LLM only allows one user at a time, the latest capabilities enable two or more people to be in a chat at the same time. You can imagine that this opens the door to having an entire family make use of AI. For the details on group chats in AI, especially in a mental health seeking context, see my discussion at the link here.

How A Family Gets Underway

There are two starting paths for families opting to use AI as their mental health adviser:

- (1) Incremental progression. In the incremental path, one family member starts using AI as a mental health adviser, and gradually the other family members follow suit.

- (2) All together. In the all-at-once path, the entire family opts to start using AI as a mental health advisor.

In the case of incremental progression, one of the family members opts to use AI for mental health, and they are the only one doing so. After a while, they begin to urge the other family members to do the same. Step by step, the family gets engaged in using AI as their mental health guidance tool.

This incremental process might get started by a parent. A parent tries out AI. They find AI useful. They then encourage a fellow parent or an offspring to do likewise. Eventually, it can be like a stack of dominoes. The use by one leads to another, which leads to another. Of course, the process could also be started by an offspring. Perhaps a teen in the family discovers value in using AI as a mental health advisor, and they end up spurring the rest of the family to do so too.

A contrasting or different way that the usage can progress is on an all-at-once basis. It usually goes like this. A parent, or perhaps both parents, is intrigued by the use of AI for mental health. Neither of them has tried doing so. Nonetheless, they decide that this is something the entire family should do. Rather than proceeding on an incremental progression, they summarily decide that the whole family will proceed as a unit. This kind of big-bang approach is less likely.

Making Use Of AI

When a family is using AI as a mental health adviser, they can choose to do so in these three possible modes:

- (1) Each is standalone. The family members are separately using AI, independently of each other, and there is no direct tie between their AI usage.

- (2) Fully jointly shared. The family members are jointly using AI, allowing full access for all family members, enabling them to see each other's chats.

- (3) Partial sharing. The family members undertake partial sharing of their AI usage, deciding what to share with other family members and what not to share.

The easiest of the three is the standalone basis. Each family member creates or uses their own individual AI account to undertake their mental health guidance. There is no cross-over between the AI accounts. This is the simplest approach and can be readily undertaken. Also, if different family members prefer different brands or models of AI, they can each use whichever they personally prefer.

The next step up would be to use a joint AI account. You could try to trick AI and create one account that everyone uses, but this is going to be messy and muddy. The more streamlined approach is to enable group chats and have family members enter and exit the group chats as desired. Naturally, the chosen AI must have that capability enabled.

A third angle is the degree to which each family member is sharing their personal mental health chats that they have had with the AI. It could be that the only sharing occurs during arranged group chats. That, though, somewhat hides the other aspects that might be useful to consider on a family-based holistic basis. This can also greatly impact any synergistic capacities of the AI when it comes to fully examining the gamut of the family on a collective and cohesive basis.

AI As Part Of The Family Ecosystem

The dynamics of what happens when a family uses AI as their mental health adviser are just now being studied. It’s a new phenomenon that is just now entering the family ecosystem. There are plenty of worries that this is bound to cause chaos on a therapeutic basis.

I’ll share with you some quick examples.

A parent goes into AI, and the AI advises the parent to be more disciplined when it comes to one of their offspring. Meanwhile, the selected offspring is told by AI that they need to be more independent and not roll over to the demands of their parents. I am guessing you can see where this is heading. The AI has provided conflicting advice. What will the parent and the offspring do? Each is armed with rock-solid advice from AI. The situation is going to go haywire.

On a related element, there is a danger that the family members will give up their own thinking and acquiesce to whatever the AI tells them to do. This could be cataclysmic. Suppose the AI encounters an AI hallucination, whereby the AI makes up something completely oddball or untoward (for more on AI hallucinations, see my explanation at the link here). If the AI tells the family members to jump up and down twenty times per day, by gosh, their unquestioning faith in the AI’s advice is likely to have the family obey such a nonsensical recommendation.

The Triangulation Problem

Family therapists often discuss "triangulation," in which one family member seeks support from a third party against another family member. AI creates an entirely new version of this predicament.

For example, suppose a parent tells AI that the other parent always criticizes them. The other partner, engaged in a separate AI, tells the AI that their partner never listens. The teenage offspring tells AI that the parents argue every night.

What is going on here is a complex family arrangement that needs to be carefully explored. All of what is being told to the AI might be perceived as true. It could also be that the teenager is hopeful of gaining support from the AI, even if the parents aren’t truly arguing each night. It might be a ploy. The same could hold for what each of the parents has told the AI. Collectively, the AI may unintentionally reinforce each person’s existing interpretation without recognizing that they are describing different aspects of the same family situation. Instead of resolving conflict, AI might inadvertently strengthen competing narratives.

Privacy Is Not Given Its Due

One of the biggest unknowns to those families that go this route is that the AI they are using is often not going to ensure any kind of privacy for what their family is disclosing to AI. The family probably assumes that AI is entirely a private forum. It is unlikely to be so.

The online licensing agreements for most of the major LLMs are clear-cut that you don’t have privacy associated with your chats. The AI maker reserves the capability to inspect any and all chats. The AI makers indicate they can reuse the chats in the augmented training of the AI. Also, if a court legally requests the chats, by and large, the AI maker is going to hand them over accordingly.

Think about the ramifications of this. An entire family has been pouring their hearts out to AI. Envision that this has been going on for months upon months. The amount of private and personal concerns, remarks, dreams, goals, problems, and the like is astronomical. All of that is sitting in the AI. I’m sure it would come as a shock to them to later find out that it isn’t nearly as private as they assumed that it was.

The World We Are In

Sit down for this additional mind-bending consideration. Will family members opt to use AI likewise once they start their own families? In other words, AI becomes the family mental health counselor from generation to generation. You might either herald this as a form of democratization of mental health guidance across the ages, or you might find this appalling and a sure sign of the ultimate decay of society. It is a thought-provoking aspect.

A final thought for now. Famed author Alex Haley made this remark: “In every conceivable manner, the family is linked to our past, a bridge to our future.” It turns out that perhaps AI will also be a familial link to our past and a familial bridge to our future. Let’s make sure that if that is the case, the AI is suitable and capable of performing that revered task.