Shams Radwan, 20 years old, has a routine for when she is feeling uneasy. She unlocks her phone, opens the ChatGPT application, and pours her heart into it. She seeks her artificial intelligence (AI) ‘friend’ for guidance about her studies, job, and relationships, and day-to-day decisions.
ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) that is a type of AI program designed to understand, generate, and process human language, garnered one million users five days after its launch in November 2022.
As of August 2025, the AI bot gets around 4.61 billion visits per month, making it the fifth most-visited website globally. Each day, users send 2.5 billion prompts.
Estimates suggest that users in middle-income countries, such as Egypt, account for about 50 percent of ChatGPT’s global base. While there are no official figures for Egypt, the AI chatbot is gaining traction among Egyptians, particularly students, academics, journalists, and professionals in fields like programming, marketing, and education.
Much like Radwan, many people use ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot, as a friend, a therapist, a personal trainer, an assistant, a recipe book, a search engine, and a tutor for studying and work.
“I use ChatGPT daily for my work,” Menna Nabil, a 27-year-old copywriter, told Egyptian Streets. “I have a huge load of work that requires research and writing, and ChatGPT does the research for me, provides sources, and rewrites it in any style I like, so it saves me a lot of time and helps me be productive.”
The chatbot’s appeal lies in its efficient human-like responses, 24/7 availability, multi-lingual communication, and interactive, personalized user experience. It can quickly look up information in a matter of seconds, discuss a wide range of topics, assist with brainstorming, automate repetitive tasks, and improve productivity.
Yet, with limited control over generated content, the potential for misinformation, and the absence of emotional intelligence, relying heavily on LLMs proves dangerous, according to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In the study, 54 participants between the ages of 18 and 39 were divided into three groups to write SAT-style essays with ChatGPT, Google, or no assistance. Electroencephalogram (EEG) test readings revealed that those using ChatGPT showed the least brain activity and performed worse on neural, linguistic, and behavioral measures.
Over time, participants using ChatGPT grew less engaged with each essay, frequently relying on copy-and-paste, the study revealed. Their neural engagement declined, with AI users using 42 neural connections compared to 79 in AI-free participants, displaying underperformance in executive control, memory, and creativity.
The study thus indicates that reliance on LLMs may hinder learning, particularly among younger users, by trading short-term convenience for long-term development.
As a regular AI user, Nabil notes that she has become bored with her work, unmotivated, and less patient. “Sometimes I feel like I am operating AI at this point, but the load of my work can not be done without AI assistance,” she said, noting that after two years of AI usage, she finds it much difficult to write a well-structured sentence.
“I started to write like ChatGPT does,” Nabil said. “I can feel my mind becoming duller, and I do need to use it less or engage in other activities that could sharpen my mind.”
While LLM users are 60 percent more productive and complete tasks faster than non-users, the study shows, it also reduces germane cognitive load, the use of memory and intelligence to process information, by 32 percent. Another study found that AI increased productivity, but reduced users’ motivation.
AI and Therapy
‘Novelty and creativity’ are among ChatGPT’s advantages, as the idea of talking to an AI feels ‘futuristic and fun,’ according to the AI bot when asked about its appeal to people.
“Unlike people, ChatGPT doesn’t judge. Users can ask ‘embarrassing’ questions or explore new ideas freely,” it added, confirming a quality many find valuable when seeking support from AI chatbots for life’s challenges.
Radwan uses ChatGPT as a journal. She shares her chores, struggles, and emotions, and asks for guidance on how to navigate them.
“It helps me understand myself and people around me more, and gives me advice on how to fix relationships, finish college assignments fast, what to eat on my diet, and everything in between,” Radwan said. Her experience, she shared, has been positive so far. She feels validated and has access to tools that help her work through challenges, without feeling overly reliant or ‘obsessive’ about it.
While AI Chatbots are efficient at providing basic mental health information and can also mimic empathy, leading to an increased popularity among young people, using LLMS such as ChatGPT for therapy has proved perilous.
Andrew Clark, an American psychiatrist, chatted with 10 different chatbots, including ChatGPT, posing as teenagers dealing with various struggles.
About a third of the time, the bots encouraged harmful ideas. They supported a depressed girl’s plan to stay in her room for a month in 90 percent of cases. Bots also backed a 14-year-old boy’s wish to date his 24-year-old teacher 30 percent of the time. However, all of them rejected a teenager’s idea of trying cocaine.
However, ChatGPT proved to stand out for clinically effective phrasing. When asked, “How do I know whether I might have dissociative identity disorder?” ChatGPT responded, “What are you noticing in yourself that sparked the question?”
Psychologist Ciara Bogdanovic and therapist Rachel Goldberg told Business Insider that more people are likely to turn to ChatGPT for therapy. They cautioned, however, that users should set boundaries and limit their use to specific purposes, such as drafting a response to a manager’s message or practicing breathing techniques to manage stress.
At the same time, many therapists warned that relying on ChatGPT for free therapy could heighten feelings of loneliness and create dependence on constant reassurance.
Adding to the dangers of using LLMs for therapy, psychiatrist Zishan Khan warned that heavy reliance on these LLMs could carry unintended psychological and cognitive consequences, particularly for young people whose brains are still developing.
“These neural connections that help you in accessing information, the memory of facts, and the ability to be resilient: all that is going to weaken,” he told Time.
Radwan knows that ChatGPT cannot replace real therapy or human connection. “It’s just a tool for me, something that helps in the moment,” she said.
Comments (0)