Exploring Counselling Students' Actual and Intended Usage of Artificial Intelligence Through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

ABSTRACT Objective The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into counselling and counsellor education is expanding rapidly, yet little is known about how counselling students engage with these tools. This qualitative study explored counselling students' actual and intended uses of AI across multiple professional and academic roles. Method Two master's and seven doctoral students from US counselling programs participated in two in‐depth semi‐structured interviews, which were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine their lived experiences and meaning making with AI. Results Four main themes emerged: AI usage as students, counsellors, supervisors and course instructors. Participants described actual uses for language enhancement, statistical learning, brainstorming and clinical documentation, while envisioning future applications in multicultural training, supervision feedback and AI‐simulated counselling role‐plays. Conclusion Findings reflected both enthusiasm for AI's creative and practical benefits and concerns about ethical use of AI in counselling and counsellor education.