Grand Prize Essay Explores Responsibility in Artificial Intelligence

December 2025

The ACA Tomorrow’s Counselors Essay Competition, part of the annual ACA Awards, recognizes graduate counseling students with exceptional insight and understanding about the counseling profession. Awardees receive an honorarium, complimentary registration for the ACA Conference & Expo and recognition during the event.

The theme of the 2025 awards competition was “Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly prom­inent and expanding. What are the strengths and limitations of using AI when counseling clients, and what are the relevant practice, ethical and legal implications of its use in counseling?”

ACA congratulates 2025 Grand Prize awardee Huan Feng, of the University of Florida College of Education, whose entry appears here.

"Artificial Intelligence and Responsibility" by Huan Feng

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force in numerous fields, including counseling. AI’s strengths, especially its efficiency, offer promise for streamlining mental health services, while its limitations, such as the lack of accurate empathy, raise significant concerns. One critical issue among these concerns is responsibility: AI can make mistakes in counseling, yet it cannot be held accountable. This essay explores the implications of these strengths and limitations, emphasizing the need to establish responsibility before integrating AI into counseling practices.

One of AI’s most celebrated strengths is its efficiency. AI-powered tools can analyze large datasets, identify patterns, and provide recommendations at speeds far exceeding human capability. In counseling, this efficiency allows AI to assist with tasks such as initial assessments, symptom tracking, and even suggesting evidence-based interventions. By automating routine processes, AI enables counselors to focus on the relational and interpretive aspects of their work, ultimately enhancing the overall quality of care.

AI’s lack of perception raises concerns about its lack of accurate empathy, which underscores a significant limitation. Empathy is a cornerstone of effective counseling, as it fosters understanding and meaningful connections between clients and counselors. AI, as a machine, cannot truly understand or share human emotions. While it can simulate empathetic responses, these responses lack the depth and authenticity of human empathy. This absence of accurate empathy not only limits AI’s ability to form meaningful connections but also directly impacts the accuracy of its responses and decision-making, contributing to another critical issue: AI’s propensity to make mistakes.

While AI systems are designed to learn and improve over time, they are not infallible. Errors can arise from biased training data, misinterpretation of client input, or limitations in algorithmic design. The inability to genuinely perceive or interpret emotions often leads to misinterpretations, which increases the likelihood of errors in assessing or addressing a client’s needs. In counseling, such mistakes can have serious consequences, potentially leading to inappropriate recommendations or overlooked risks. Therefore, the ethical and legal implications of these limitations are profound, particularly regarding accountability.

AI, as a tool, cannot bear responsibility for its mistakes. This lack of accountability poses a significant ethical dilemma: who is responsible when AI errors harm clients? If clear boundaries of responsibility are not established before using AI-powered tools for counseling, their use becomes ethically indefensible. Counselors and organizations must ensure that human professionals remain central and ultimately accountable for treatments and decisions. To address these challenges, counselors must be clear about the boundaries of responsibility when using AI. They should view AI to augment their professional judgment, not replace it. By relying on their skills and gathering in-person information, counselors can make informed decisions prioritizing client well-being. Establishing accountability frameworks and ethical guidelines is essential for the responsible integration of AI into counseling practice.

AI has immense potential in counseling. Considering the issue of responsibility, AI should be utilized as a supportive and complementary tool to maximize its benefits while minimizing risks, with safeguards for ethical, legal, and practical considerations.