Artificial Intelligence: Are Therapy Chatbots Safe?

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 11/12/2025, 2:39:21 AM

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Artificial Intelligence: Are Therapy Chatbots Safe?

Overview

This entry is a text article titled Artificial Intelligence: Are Therapy Chatbots Safe? written by journalist Michael J. de la Merced. It was created on 11 November 2025, is written in English, and is part of the digital archive of the New York Times Company. The article is stored as a plain‑text file and is accessible through the PINAX platform (access URL placeholder). The piece is a news‑feature that examines the safety and regulatory implications of AI‑powered therapy chatbots, while also discussing recent investment activity in the AI sector.

Background

Michael J. de la Merced is a senior writer for the New York Times, known for covering technology and business. The article was produced in California, reflecting the state’s prominence as a hub for AI research and investment. The New York Times holds the copyright for the text, and the article was published in the context of a broader industry conversation about the ethical deployment of conversational AI systems.

Contents

The article focuses on several interrelated themes:
  • Therapy chatbots: It evaluates the potential benefits and risks of AI‑driven mental‑health assistants, citing case studies and expert opinions.
  • Safety concerns: The piece discusses regulatory gaps, data privacy issues, and the possibility of harmful outputs.
  • Investment landscape: It highlights SoftBank’s recent funding round in AI startups, Nvidia’s role in providing GPU infrastructure, and OpenAI’s influence on model development.
  • Industry implications: The author connects the safety debate to broader questions about AI governance, market dynamics, and the future of digital therapeutics.

Scope

The article covers the period up to its publication date (2025‑11‑11) and focuses on the United States, with particular emphasis on California. It addresses topics in artificial intelligence, conversational agents, mental‑health technology, corporate investment, and regulatory policy. The piece does not provide a detailed technical analysis of AI algorithms but rather offers a journalistic overview of the safety and business aspects of therapy chatbots.

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Raw Cheimarros Data

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Metadata

Version History (4 versions)

  • ✓ v4 (current) · 11/12/2025, 2:39:21 AM
    "Added description"
  • v3 · 11/12/2025, 2:37:04 AM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v2 · 11/12/2025, 2:35:51 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v1 · 11/12/2025, 2:35:36 AM · View this version
    "Reorganization group: Artificial_Intelligence"

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SoftBank Sells $5.8 Billion Stake in Nvidia to Pay for OpenAI Deals
The move has further stoked concerns among some investors that the rally in artificial intelligence stocks was overdone.


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Masayoshi Son speaking with one hand in the air.
Masayoshi Son, the founder and chief executive of SoftBank, has bet big on artificial intelligence.Credit...Franck Robichon/EPA, via Shutterstock
Michael J. de la Merced
By Michael J. de la Merced
Nov. 11, 2025, 11:40 a.m. ET
The DealBook Newsletter  Our columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin and his Times colleagues help you make sense of major business and policy headlines — and the power-brokers who shape them. Get it sent to your inbox.
SoftBank, the Japanese technology giant, has staked its future on artificial intelligence.

But to help pay for those expensive investments, the company last month sold its entire $5.8 billion holdings in Nvidia, the chipmaker behind the A.I. boom, SoftBank said in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday.

SoftBank’s enormous spending plans, including some $30 billion alone on OpenAI, come amid a flood of planned investments in artificial intelligence across the technology industry — including circular deals among the same companies. (Nvidia, for example, is committed to investing up to $100 billion in OpenAI, which in turn plans to buy an enormous slug of the chipmaker’s processors.)

News that SoftBank, an influential technology investor, was getting out of one of the biggest names in artificial intelligence stoked concern among some investors that the rally in A.I. stocks was overdone. A new skeptic of the boom appeared on Monday: Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager made famous by the book and the movie “The Big Short,” questioned on social media the accounting for tech giants’ huge purchases of computer chips.

But SoftBank’s reason for the sale was purely pragmatic, according to its chief financial officer, Yoshimitsu Goto. “We do need to divest our existing portfolio so that, that can be utilized for our financing,” he told analysts. “It’s nothing to do with Nvidia itself.”

Late last month, OpenAI completed a corporate reorganization to become a for-profit company. As part of that move, SoftBank agreed to make its full $30 billion investment in the ChatGPT maker.

The move underscored the steep financial requirements of SoftBank’s continuing focus on artificial intelligence. “I want SoftBank to lead the A.I. revolution,” Masayoshi Son, the company’s founder and chief executive, said in 2023.

That has meant making big pledges, including the OpenAI investment, and joining a venture called Stargate, with OpenAI and Oracle, that intends to build an array of data centers.

More broadly, SoftBank has announced that it plans to invest $100 billion in projects in the United States.

Doing so has forced the company to find the money for its pledges, including by selling off existing investments and borrowing heavily.

In some cases, however, those investments have paid off already. Despite the price tag of the OpenAI commitment, the start-up’s soaring valuation — on paper, at least — helped SoftBank more than double its profit in the most recent quarter, to 2.5 trillion yen, or $16.2 billion.

But SoftBank’s sale of its Nvidia stake resurrected memories of its last investment in the chipmaker, which it sold off in 2019. That was a few years before its stock began to climb on the back of demand for A.I. services like ChatGPT.

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006.

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