The way I see it, AI should be used to make mental health services available to a larger audience. Ideally, it would enhance the process. Humans would be still needed to provide f2f sessions and do other things LLMs can’t.
If an LLM is used to replace people, you’re clearly aiming to keep the reach of the service about the same while reducing costs. How about you use AI to increase the reach to those cases where actual human contact isn’t entirely necessary.
Just like in a hospital, a nurse can take care of many things, so that doctors can focus on cases that require more expertise.