Perception and Attitude of Adolescents in India towards AI Chatbots Usage for Therapy Purpose

This study aims to explore the interest, trust, perception of AI chatbot as a substitute for licensed professional like counsellors or therapists. It was also to identify their concerns (safety, privacy, data security) when using it for counselling. Attempt is made to understand perceived benefits including ease of use, accessibility, availability and positive impact if any on improving mental health. Study explored how these perceptions vary by age, gender, digital familiarity. The aggregate results will help in increasing awareness towards ethical and careful use of AI chatbots for mental health. Online survey with 40 questions was administered which had 101 respondents. Hypothesis 1 was that Adolescents will report moderate overall acceptability of AI Chatbot for therapy (mean acceptability score > midpoint). Result was that Adolescents reported low acceptability of AI Chatbot for therapy purpose with overall 2.64 mean core on the Likert scale. Hypothesis 2 was that Adolescents will find AI chatbot easy to use with better accessibility. Result was that ease of use, accessibility and 24 by 7 availability was a major benefit reported by the 69.3% respondents. Hypothesis 3 was that Adolescents would trust AI Chatbot if used in conjunction with a trusted professional. Result showed that professional backing is the single most important factor for trusting AI Chatbot as reported by 46.5% respondents, but on its own, AI chatbot had low trust factor. Hypothesis 4 was that privacy and safety concerns will impact willingness to use. Study showed that safety and ethics clearly stands out with respondents clearly identifying the risk attached to harmful advice, lack of responsibility, privacy concerns, data usage concerns and potential long-term mental health impact.