AI companion vs therapist: when to use which (and why)

There's a quiet question on a lot of people's minds right now: if I can talk to an AI about how I'm feeling, do I still need a therapist?

The honest answer is yes, sometimes. And also: an AI companion can do things a therapist can't, and vice versa. The trick is knowing which one you need, and when.

What a therapist is, what an AI isn't

A licensed therapist is a human with years of training who can diagnose, treat, and hold clinical responsibility for your care. They can prescribe (in some cases), they can recognize patterns you can't see, they can sit with you in a way no model can. If you're in crisis, working through trauma, navigating a diagnosis, or untangling something from your past — a therapist is the right answer.

An AI companion is a calm, available, private presence. It can't diagnose you. It can't prescribe. It can't replace the human relationship that good therapy is. What it can do is be there at 2am, in the middle of a hard conversation with your partner, in the ten minutes you have between meetings, in the moment your chest gets tight and you need to say the thing out loud. It can be a thinking partner, a journal that talks back, a place to rehearse the conversation you're afraid to have.

When an AI companion helps

You need to think out loud, but no one's around (or no one is safe to tell)

You want to get clearer on what you actually feel before talking to a real person

You keep replaying the same loop and you want help interrupting it

You're weighing a decision and want to hear your own voice, reflected back

You're lonely in a way that has nothing to do with how many people you know

When a therapist is the right call

You're in crisis, or thinking about harming yourself

You're working through trauma, a diagnosis, or something clinical

You want a long-term, accountable relationship with a human who knows you

You need medication, or someone who can prescribe it

You keep 'getting better' and then 'relapsing' in the same way

How to use them together

The people who get the most out of an AI companion aren't using it instead of therapy — they're using it in between. They come to a session with a clearer question, because they spent the week thinking out loud with akiind. They process the small stuff in real time, so the big stuff has room in the session. They have a place to land when the next appointment is ten days away.

That's the version we built akiind for. Not as a replacement. As a companion.