--- title: "Therapists Go on Strike, Saying They’re Being Replaced by AI" description: "More than 25,000 health care workers declared a one-day strike in a protest against the threat of AI automation." date: "2026-03-21" modified: "2026-03-21" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/health-medicine/mental-health-workers-ai-strike" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Brain" - "Ethics" - "Health & Medicine" - "Mental Health" --- # Therapists Go on Strike, Saying They’re Being Replaced by AI ![A woman with long blonde hair, wearing a white blouse and brown pants, is sitting in a yellow chair holding a notebook and pen, engaged in conversation with another person whose back is to the camera. The setting appears to be a cozy, well-lit office or consultation room with wooden furniture and a large window in the background.]() *Getty Images / Fiordaliso* There plenty of personal reasons not to use AI chatbots as therapists. They're [sycophantic](), make for [ineffective shrinks](), and can be downright dangerous for anyone with [preexisting mental illness]() — and sometimes even for [people with none](). And that's to say nothing of their effects on actual human therapists, many of whom say their profession is increasingly being strangled by the rise of low-effort, low-cost chatbots. Some 2,400 mental health care workers staged a 24-hour strike in northern California this week, in protest over concerns that they're being replaced with AI systems. The company they work for, Kaiser Permanente, has denied that any automation is taking place, but according to the workers and their union, the threat is becoming all too real. "I've been reassigned from triage to other duties," Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker [told *NPR*](). "What used to always be a 10- to 15-minute screening from a licensed clinician like myself is now being conducted by unlicensed lay operators following a script, or e-visits, so an app is triaging members' care needs." According [to the *Associated Press*](), the mental health care workers were joined by over 23,000 Kaiser nurses, a decisive show of force as the threat of automation rises. "Part of our unfair labor practice strike really is about the erosion of licensed triage within the health plan," Marucci-Morris told *NPR*. "There is a lot of fear and anxiety about AI, and in particular, fear around AI replacing jobs." The medical workers' concerns aren't just about mass layoffs. Like many workers throughout the US, they're also concerned with [worsening work conditions]() that follow AI initiatives — for example, management demands on mental health workers to fast-track charting with AI in order to squeeze more patient visits into a single shift. "They're trying to take all that time away," Kaiser psychiatrist and union steward for the National Union of Healthcare Workers told the *AP*. "They really just want us to be seeing people back to back to back, to be seeing more people for less time with less resources." Katy Roemer, a family medicine nurse concurs. "Is AI going to benefit patients? Is AI going to benefit the people that work for Kaiser Permanente?" she asked the *AP*. "Or is AI going to benefit the bottom line of the corporation?" **More on AI:** *[A Grim Truth Is Emerging in Employers’ AI Experiments]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()