Do you think therapy work is a sector ripe for automation (see inside for more details)?

“Therapy” is a pretty broad term. Please be more specific as to what you have in mind.

@Darth_Algar: If you want, use my previous question about regressive autism for reference.

I dispute your first premise in your details. It is to be reactive and intuitive. There are probably some aspects that can be automated but not all.

@luigirovatti

And that question relates to this one in what way?

@Darth_Algar: That, to cure regressive autism, a therapist must be constant and repetitive.

Your question is rife with inaccuracies and errors.

“Regressive” autism is autism, there is no differentiation. And it is not cured, the client learns to adapt. And most psycho therapy does best by a demonstration by the therapist of empathy, which alleviates the client of the feeling of being alone.

Cure? What leads you to believe that a bot might have any chance of dealing with anything as subtle and complex as a psyche? As you for one certainly demonstrate, we are not cookie cut duplicates of one another. A bot would be required to be as least as sophisticated yet flexible as the mind it must analyze. What do you suppose are the chances of that?

No.

@zenvelo: I read somewhere, that, when Heller’s syndrome was a diagnosis still in existence, a way to make the child learn to adapt, how you accurately described, was to break one complex sentence down into a series of clear instructions. Each time the child complies, you say “Good job” and give the next instruction.

@stanleybmanly: Anyway, when artificial intelligence will be created, it will likely develop emotions, if not the will to survive, (after all, it’s a replica of the human brain) and it might be very soon.

Yes. The operative word in your speculation is WHEN. And that very soon bit is beyond optimistic. I think you miss the very relevant idea that long before AI acquires the capabilities to render effective therapy, such devices will be confronted with the rather clear recognition of the dangers inherent in our instability, and the consequent requirement for our elimination. THAT would be the sensible and SAFE solution to the “human condition”.

It would never work. A machine sees everything in black and white, yes or no, 0 or 1. To provide acceptable therapy, the gray areas of the human psyche must be considered.

You can’t “cure” autism, any more than you can “cure” being male.

The only place I see automation working is in physical therapy.