1.3 Objective
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the therapeutic relationship between therapists and clients cannot be structurally replaced by AI. It aims to demonstrate that AI reaches its ontological and structural limits when it comes to forming a therapeutic relationship, regardless of how fast the processing power is, how accurately machines can measure us, or whether robots will in future be capable of simulating their own physical bodies.Footnote 1 Nevertheless, the main focus of this work is on so-called large language models, that is, AI systems that operate using language. For we are only at the beginning of a rapid development: future systems will interact with humans far beyond speaking and writing, and will be able to measure facial micro-expressions, the timbre of the voice and skin tension more quickly and accurately than humans ever could.
This distinction is to be underpinned by interdisciplinary theory in order to highlight the genuinely human aspect of an encounter.
At the same time, this thesis aims to differentiate rather than reject outright: it determines what AI can achieve as a tool in the therapeutic field and derives recommendations for responsible use from this.
As this is a postgraduate thesis in Integrative Gestalt Therapy, a further central aim of this work is to demonstrate, building on this foundation, that Gestalt therapeutic concepts such as bodily awareness, working within the intersubjective field at the boundary of contact, and immediate presence in the ‘here and now’ cultivate precisely those qualities that are structurally beyond the reach of machine computation.
Ultimately, this thesis pursues a profoundly humanistic aim. Technological development is not primarily understood as a threat, but could also function as a mirror that calls on us to cultivate what is genuinely human more consciously once again. Machines are better at managing what is available than we are. This makes it all the more important to nurture that which eludes calculation.
The following chapters will show why and how Gestalt therapy can help us to mindfully preserve our capacity for human resonance in the digital age.