Investigating the use of AI in psychological counseling: systematic review

Purpose Advances in natural language processing technology and large language modeling have greatly improved the performance of artificial intelligence. Researchers are beginning to consider the application of conversational AI to the counseling industry. This systematic review aims to investigate AI that has been applied to the counseling industry and analyze the existing shortcomings and strengths to find a direction to advance the development of AI in the counseling field. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology is based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), and 30 papers were included. Findings The functions and features of AI, the program design and the emotional factors of users are the main factors that affect the willingness to use AI in the counseling field. Research limitations/implications There are some limitations in this study. Because there are few studies on the practical application of AI in the field of psychological counseling, this paper sets relatively loose screening conditions. Another defect is that the study of a single problem is not deep enough because of the synthesis of different research directions. In addition, because technical difficulties were not the focus of this study, some difficulties remain unresolved (such as how to make AI “learn” more therapies, how to reduce repetitive responses, etc.). Practical implications In addition, this paper proposes six strategies to improve AI performance, including optimizing the review mechanism. With the content summarized in this paper, counselors and clients can better prepare themselves for the advent of the AI era. Originality/value While continuously improving AI agents, this study believes that various practical strategies should be used simultaneously in the future, such as providing AI application guidelines or holding workshops to enhance AI’s acceptance and influence in psychological counseling. All in all, how to make a deeper combination of AI and psychological counseling field is a problem that needs to be explored continuously in future research. This study believes that on the basis of further development of AI technology, the reasonable adoption of the above strategies to solve mental health problems will bring more changes to the field of psychological counseling.