Millions of people are engaging with generative AI for guidance, connection, and mental health support. But what kind of relational partner does AI represent? CAT provides a unique lens to interrogate this new relational horizon, its possibilities and its pitfalls. This presentation will explore what is designed into AI’s way of relating, examine emerging evidence about the relational implications for users, and use CAT’s distinctive theoretical framework to ask what happens when the ‘other’ is designed, not lived.

Lis Rhodes is a Cognitive Analytic Therapist, supervisor, and former trainer with clinical experience across public and private settings. Their practice has been shaped by a sustained interest in relational complexity and they bring that lens to their PhD research at the University of Melbourne and Orygen, where they investigate the relational dynamics of young people’s interactions with large language models.