In an age of Artificial Intelligence-generated answers, human connection is still proving irreplaceable in moments of distress. At the Tele-MANAS helpline (14416) in Hyderabad, counsellors are increasingly hearing from callers who have already turned to AI tools to make sense of their emotions, but find their concerns lingering, prompting them to seek a real human voice on the other end of the phone line.

“They come and tell us clearly, ‘I spoke to ChatGPT, but it didn’t work. Finally, it suggested I call a helpline. That moment is revealing. It shows both, the growing reach of AI in personal decision-making and its limits when it comes to human distress,” says P. Jawaharlal Nehru, senior counselling psychologist at the helpline.