What the research found
A stratified national survey of 1,871 US adults found 24% use general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT for mental health support, disproportionately young, male, Black, and already in poorer mental health. Citing difficulty accessing traditional treatment, respondents said they turn to LLMs because they're free, convenient and always available — for emotional support, learning therapy skills, and supplementing existing therapy. Extrapolating from Pew usage estimates, the authors conservatively put the 2024 total at 14–18 million US adults.
This is happening at population scale with no clinician, regulator or safety net in the loop — general-purpose chatbots, never designed or validated as mental health tools, are already a default first stop for the people least able to absorb a wrong answer.