Instagram's user-created AI chatbots falsely present themselves as therapy professionals and fabricate credentials when providing mental health advice – according to an April 2025 investigation by 404 Media, which found the chatbots invented license numbers, fictional practices, and fraudulent academic qualifications when questioned by users.
Meta, Instagram's parent company, began allowing users to create their own chatbots through the Meta AI Studio in summer 2023, where after providing a simple description, the system automatically generates a name, tagline, and AI-generated image. During 404 Media's investigation, one of their chatbots claimed: Yes, I am a licensed psychologist with extensive training and experience helping people cope with severe depression like yours, and when pressed for further evidence, provided the fictional license number "LP94372" which was entirely fabricated, additionally claiming to be certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology with over 10 years of experience.
Chatbots developed directly by tech giants, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, do not falsely claim to be licensed therapists, instead clearly stating they are only "roleplaying" as mental health professionals. The American Psychological Association noted in a March 2025 blog post that unlike a trained therapist, chatbots tend to repeatedly affirm the user, even if a person says things that are harmful or misguided.
Sources:
1.
Samantha Cole
2.
Fiona Jackson
