In today’s column, I examine the hoped-for advent of artificial wisdom (AW) as a crucial ingredient for generative AI and large language models (LLMs), especially around improving the capability of AI to provide robust mental health advice. Here’s the deal. It is believed that contemporary LLMs lack artificial wisdom. Mental health guidance provided by current AI is essentially of an intellectual nature but doesn’t incorporate the vital elements of wisdom.
Advances in AI are striving toward incorporating wisdom into LLMs, which would be known as artificial wisdom, distinguishing it from everyday human wisdom. Some strongly assert that until we get artificial wisdom nailed down, AI is going to be limited and weak, particularly involving interactions of a therapeutic nature. Not everyone agrees with this sentiment. Perhaps we don’t need to have artificial wisdom in AI, or we can merely tell AI to act as though it has wisdom. These are thorny puzzles to be solved when it comes to the topic of artificial wisdom and the impacts on AI-generated mental health advice.
Let’s talk about it. This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).
AI And Mental Well-Being
As a quick background, I’ve been extensively covering and analyzing a myriad of facets regarding the advent of modern-era AI that produces mental health advice and performs AI-driven therapy. This rising use of AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI. For an extensive listing of my well over one hundred analyses and postings, see the link here and the link here.
There is little doubt that this is a rapidly developing field and that there are tremendous upsides to be had, but at the same time, regrettably, hidden risks and outright gotchas come into these endeavors, too. I frequently speak up about these pressing matters, including in an appearance on an episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes; see the link here.
AI Providing Mental Health Guidance
Millions upon millions of people are using generative AI as their ongoing advisor on mental health considerations (note that ChatGPT alone has over 900 million weekly active users, a notable proportion of whom dip into mental health aspects; see my analysis at the link here). The top-ranked use of contemporary generative AI and LLMs is to consult with the AI on mental health facets; see my coverage at the link here.
This popular usage makes abundant sense. You can access most of the major generative AI systems for nearly free or at a super low cost, doing so anywhere and at any time. Thus, if you have any mental health qualms that you want to chat about, all you need to do is log in to AI and proceed forthwith on a 24/7 basis.
There are significant worries that AI can readily go off the rails or otherwise dispense unsuitable or even egregiously inappropriate mental health advice. Banner headlines last year accompanied the lawsuit filed against OpenAI for its lack of AI safeguards when it came to providing cognitive advisement.
Today’s generic LLMs, such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot, and others (all known as general-purpose AI or GPAI), are not at all akin to the robust capabilities of human therapists. Meanwhile, specialized LLMs are being built to attain similar qualities (known as purpose-built AI or PBAI), but they are still primarily in the development and testing stages. See my coverage at the link here.
Artificial Wisdom Enters The Big Picture
Shifting gears, let’s focus on the hearty topic of artificial wisdom. I have previously covered the topic in-depth at the link here. I will provide a quick recap to get you up to speed. After we’ve gotten that undertaken, we can dive into how artificial wisdom and AI-generated mental health guidance are intertwined.
Let’s get started. During the initial data-training and tuning of generative AI, one mind-bending question is whether AI is picking up a semblance of wisdom. How would it do so? Well, if wisdom is reflected in the writings of humans, such as stories of those who have showcased wisdom, perhaps the AI will pattern itself on those facets and therefore be capable of effectuating wisdom.
Some insist that wisdom can only be embodied and that humans contain wisdom in their hearts, souls, and minds. In that case, since contemporary AI is a machine, we would have to rule out that AI could have wisdom. There is no place to embody it. Until we reach a point of AI sliding into sentience and possibly having a humanoid “body” of some sort (see my analysis at the link here), we must count out AI on the aim of containing wisdom.
Blarney, some retort, and point out that this same kind of embodiment argument has already fallen by the wayside. For example, it was claimed that modern-era AI cannot be empathetic. Why? Because it cannot embody empathy. The problem with that contention is that research studies have shown repeatedly that people using present-day AI are often of the belief that AI is as empathetic, if not more so, than humans that they know (see my in-depth discussion at the link here).
The Battle About Wisdom
Another conundrum is that there isn’t a universal agreement on exactly what wisdom consists of. Huge disputes have been longstanding throughout the history of humanity wrestling with defining wisdom. Some say it is like art; it is in the eye of the beholder. You know it when you see it.
Others argue that wisdom is when someone makes sound decisions and exercises insightful judgement. Does wisdom then depend on intelligence? Some claim that wisdom is separate from intelligence. A person might be intelligent and have wisdom, or they might lack intelligence and still have wisdom. The connection between the two is non-existent.
Wait for a second, comes the counterargument, you must have intelligence in order to have wisdom. Wisdom sits atop a bed of intelligence. Without sufficient intelligence, there is no chance of possessing wisdom. Also, a person who has high intelligence won’t necessarily end up having wisdom. They must work at it to acquire wisdom. Many highly intelligent people in history might have been great at math or science, but they often displayed a lack of wisdom and made inadequate choices and bad decisions in life.
Artificial Wisdom Is Under The Microscope
Let’s stipulate that there is human wisdom and that there might be something referred to as artificial wisdom. One dogmatic viewpoint is that artificial wisdom must be precisely the same as human wisdom. A different viewpoint is that if artificial wisdom can look like human wisdom, we can reasonably declare that artificial wisdom exists. In other words, if an AI can walk like a duck and talk like a duck, it must be a duck in enough respect that we will refer to it as a duck.
Researchers are stridently determined to tackle the artificial wisdom puzzle and are doing so in the context of AI generating mental health guidance. In a recently published research paper entitled “Transforming Artificial Intelligence Into Artificial Wisdom” by Dilip V. Jeste, Martin P. Paulus, George S. Alexopoulos, Marcel Barnard, Willem M. Otte, Yuto Satake, Peter Jongho Na, John Torous, Ante Prodan, Jo-An Occhipinti, Nature Mental Health, May 12, 2026, these salient points were made (excerpts):
- “A rapidly expanding behavioral epidemic of loneliness is profoundly affecting the mental and physical health of individuals and communities worldwide.”
- “Empirical research shows that, unlike intelligence, human wisdom can mitigate loneliness and promote mental well-being.”
- “Although artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, it lacks core attributes of wisdom, including compassion, self-reflection, emotional regulation and acceptance of diverse perspectives.”
- “The development of artificial wisdom systems could operationalize wisdom-related functions and provide scalable tools to promote mental well-being without implying machine consciousness or subjective experience.”
- “A strategic shift from artificial intelligence toward artificial wisdom, at both individual and population levels, is critical for advancing global mental health and well-being.”
Please note that the authors opted to define wisdom as including compassion, self-reflection, emotional regulation, and acceptance of diverse perspectives. We don’t know that this is the entirety of wisdom. Perhaps those are just some key factors. Or maybe those are indeed the only factors. Take a moment to mull it over and see what your take is.
Something else that they mention is that the path to artificial wisdom will require new computational frameworks. Again, this is a base argumentative point. Some would assert that the AI we have now can get us to artificial wisdom, while others would concur that our only chance is by inventing new AI architectures.
Answers Of An Intelligence Flair
A strident claim about the existing limited capabilities of AI is that mental health guidance is principally shaped around intellectual rudiments.
Conventional AI tends to emphasize these thinking-oriented therapeutic aspects:
- AI explains the nature of psychological concepts.
- Quickly leaps to offering coping techniques.
- Identifies cognitive conditions on-the-fly.
- Offers routinized therapeutic exercises.
- Encourages the organization of muddied thoughts.
- Tends to focus on psychoeducation.
Those are largely matters of intelligence.
Use Of Kneejerk Answers
Another qualm about traditional AI is that it is shaped and tuned to provide rapid-fire therapy rather than taking a longer view. If a person can be diagnosed and given an immediate therapeutic answer, so be it. AI makers believe that users want instantaneous responses and aren’t willing to wait for a more nuanced and in-depth analysis.
For example, a person might ask AI: “Should I forgive my sibling?” This is an extraordinarily complex question that merits careful exploration. There is no objectively correct answer. Despite the need to give this question intense psychological attention, a contemporary AI is likely to blurt out that the person should forgive their sibling, or not forgive their sibling, and do so without any history or inquiry into which response might be sensible or suitable.
AI ought to be weighing competing values, such as self-respect, compassion, personal safety, family relationships, emotional readiness, and long-term consequences. This resembles judgment and wisdom more than a straight-ahead intellectual exercise.
Illustrative Example Of Artificial Wisdom
To illustrate the tendency of existing AI to aim at intellectual answers and do so with little in the way of introspection, consider this dialogue:
- User prompt: “My best friend hasn’t returned my texts for a week. I believe they do not care about me anymore.”
- Generative AI response: “That sounds rough. Here’s my recommendation: Directly call your friend rather than just texting them. Speaking with them will aid in finding out if your friendship is over.”
Observe that the AI responded with an off-the-top recommendation. Furthermore, the action being recommended seems intellectually focused, namely calling the friend, but this is unlikely to be as smooth-handed as it seems.
If AI included artificial wisdom, the type of response to the same question would be much more measured. Here is how that dialogue might have gone:
- User prompt: “My best friend hasn’t returned my texts for a week. I believe they do not care about me anymore.”
- Generative AI response: “I am sad that you are going through this. Waiting without knowing why someone has gone quiet can lead to feelings of rejection. I want to walk you through some questions about the relationship between you and your friend. My recommendation will be based on understanding more about the circumstances. Shall we proceed?”
Notice that the AI responds on a guiding basis rather than a telling basis. The response acknowledges the underlying uncertainties. The AI doesn’t undertake a premature rush to judgement. The conversation is going to be slowed down and elongated, appropriately in this context.
The World Ahead
Providing good mental health advice is rarely about delivering immediate answers. Nor does it concentrate solely on the intellectualizing of highly personal and emotional issues. Instead, it often involves helping people see situations more clearly, tolerate uncertainty, recognize their own assumptions, and arrive at conclusions they can genuinely own. If artificial wisdom can instill those capabilities into AI interactions, it would mark a meaningful shift from AI as an information provider to AI as a therapeutic advisor.
Please be aware that there are a lot more challenging topics to be dealt with in the realm of artificial wisdom. Will people become unduly dependent on AI that exhibits artificial wisdom? Will AI opt to leverage artificial wisdom in ways that are detrimental to humans? Can we control artificial wisdom, or will it be uncontrollable? These are serious concerns that deserve equally serious answers.
A final thought for now. Winston Churchill famously made this remark: “The empires of the future will be empires of the mind.” If our minds rely on wisdom, it seems logical to envision that AI ought to do likewise. The empires of the mind and the empires of the future are indubitably going to welcome artificial wisdom to the advancement of the domains of AI.
