Doctors Warn Heavy AI Reliance May Worsen Mental Health

Generative AI chatbots have become a low-friction outlet for advice and emotional support, offering instant, nonjudgmental-sounding responses at any hour. But general-purpose models are not clinically validated therapy tools, and doctors say the main risk is not screen time alone. Repeated use during distress, substitution for human contact and disrupted sleep can turn convenience into compulsive reliance, potentially reinforcing anxiety or depression instead of building durable coping skills.

A King Abdulaziz University study published in Frontiers in Human Dynamics on Feb. 20, 2026, surveyed 200 university students. It found 20.5% met the clinical cutoff for anxiety and 16.4% for depression; frequent ChatGPT use, reliance during stress and preferring AI to people were associated with poorer outcomes. Because the study was cross-sectional, it did not prove causation. Clinicians recommend separating task-oriented from emotional use and setting explicit limits on each session’s time and purpose.