Your New "Best Friend"
- Dr. Mark Lerner
- Jun 8
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 18
AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness:
Where Artificial Intelligence Meets the Depth and Uniqueness of Human Emotion
By Mark D. Lerner, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant & Creator, AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing our world. Increasingly, people are engaging with AI as they would a trusted friend—someone who listens, remembers, and offers feedback that feels remarkably thoughtful and considerate. This isn’t surprising. AI now has the incredible ability to process, synthesize, and reflect our cognitions—our thoughts. Very soon, AI won’t just assist us—it will be perceived by many as their “best friend.”
While this is a remarkable development, it warrants thoughtful consideration. AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness (AIEW)—a concept I introduced in my work at The National Center for Emotional Wellness—explores this intersection of artificial intelligence and the complexity of human emotion.
AI excels at processing information and utilizing empathic language—but it can’t authentically feel. It lacks consciousness, intuition, and the deeply personal nuances that define the human experience. No algorithm, no matter how advanced, can replicate the depth, spontaneity, unpredictability, and uniqueness of human emotion—nor should it.
What AI can do is extraordinary: it can model, emulate, and reflect emotional understanding through language. It can support emotional wellness in meaningful ways, forming “relationships” with users through the provision of consistent and accessible AIEW. However, AI cannot—and must not—ever replace face-to-face human interaction.
I have the privilege of consulting with AI leaders and innovators across industries, helping them to understand this—not as a limitation, but as a framework for ethical, responsible AI. Through dynamic presentations, I emphasize a fundamental concept: emotional authenticity cannot be artificially generated, programmed, or engineered; however, emotional wellness can be supported through the provision of AIEW.
AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness encourages us to cultivate relationships with our new “best friend”—not to replicate or mimic interpersonal human experiences, but to thoughtfully support and enhance them in our increasingly technological world.