Humanism in the Age of Hyperreality: A Speculative Critique of AI Therapybots and the Neoliberal Commodification of Human Beings

ABSTRACT

This article examines the future place of humanistic counseling, assuming the successful mass deployment of artificial intelligence therapy chatbots (AITCs). We systematically identify the limitations of AITCs through the lens of Jean Baudrillard's view on simulacra and hyperreality and identify five collective psychosocial consequences of immersion in the hyperreal. Next, we articulate the positionality of a medical model perspective on AITCs in accord with neoliberal corporate priorities and provide a humanistic, relational‐embodied critique. Then, we identify six guiding humanistic priorities that might counter the deleterious psychosocial consequences of hyperreality. Finally, we suggest humanists should come together to build a coherent, collective professional identity that (a) critiques the sociopolitical, neoliberal orthodoxies that support mass AITC deployment, and (b) articulates a shared vision of human‐guided counseling priorities such as the value of second‐order change, I–Thou relations, embodied awareness, and ecological self.