AI is the World’s largest Relationship Therapist — Clay Cockrell & Tony Fabrikant, CoupleWork AI
Aug 19, 2026 · 16:43
Clay Cockrell and Tony Fabrikant, co-founders of CoupleWork AI, argue that AI is now the world's largest relationship therapist—ChatGPT's 900 million weekly users dwarf BetterHelp's 5 million—but sycophancy makes it clinically dangerous. Cockrell, a 34-year couples counselor, contrasts that with Gottman's 90% divorce-prediction accuracy and emotionally focused therapy, which CoupleWork's Maxine is built on. He warns general AI misses abuse signals and lacks data privilege. Fabrikant says start with clinicians, encode evals, and treat one failing safety test as disqualifying.
