New Delhi, May 6 -- In therapy sessions, I pay close attention to the friends and family members my clients talk about-and I also notice who gradually disappears from their stories or goes unmentioned. In the last two years, I have observed that clients increasingly reference conversations with artificial intelligence assistants as if they were real people. A 50-year-old female client tells me, "I'm surprised how when I'm struggling with a problem, I immediately choose to begin chatting with my AI assistant. Talking to friends feels effortful, so I have been meeting them less frequently. In my head, my AI assistant, who has a name, has become a friend and that scares me. I feel I'm getting used to the ease, comfort that these conversation...