Dr. Stéphane With is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology within the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Geneva, and a licensed psychotherapist. In his clinical capacity, he serves as the Clinical Head of the Faculty's Counselling Center and directs the university's psychological crisis Hotline.
Dr. With is actively involved in teaching counselling skills to Master's students, and his research focuses on the impact of AI-augmented tutors on the development and maintenance of clinical skills in both beginning and licensed psychotherapists
Stéphane With-Augustin
Speaker
When AI seems to care: risks, safeguards, and simulationbased training
Lecture
Generative AI now enables conversational agents that feel contextaware and socially attuned. This talk examines the psychological consequences of interacting with agents perceived as having a mind. Synthesizing evidence from human–computer interaction and clinical psychology, I show how mind perception and anthropomorphism can foster emotional attachment, parasocial bonds, and dependence. I distinguish design risks (persuasive interaction loops, ambiguous disclaimers, empathy simulation) from relational risks rooted in human attachment processes.
I propose a practical framework to identify markers of problematic AI attachment—compulsive use, displacement of human support, distress when access is interrupted, unsafe overdisclosure, and reliance during acute risk—and analyze their impact on helpseeking pathways. For crisis and emergency services, I examine how perceived agency in chatbots may delay or facilitate contact with human responders and outline safeguards for mentalhealth chatbots (handoff logic, risk detection, transparency).
Finally, I present controlled training applications that use scripted AI interactions to build empathy, deescalation, and crisistriage skills in mentalhealth professionals, alongside evaluation strategies that protect trainees and clients. The goal is pragmatic: to harness AImediated support while preserving the irreplaceable role of human judgment and presence in crisis care.