The rise of AI therapists makes me want to scream & cry

I am an MSW student in my last semester of grad school. The finish line is RIGHT THERE. I have wanted to be a therapist for so long, I have 15 years of human service experience, this is the day I've been waiting for for so long.

But now I see post after post from people who are actually using AI therapists and enjoying them. I didn't think there was any chance we could be replaced, but apparently chatbots are already good enough at our job that our clients prefer the f***ing chatbots. Which means insurance companies will be close behind, looking for any opportunity to replace humans with cheap digital labor.

I can't see any scenario where this ends well for our profession, and it feels so bleak. I feel so angry that I invested so much time and effort and emotion, and now the rug is getting pulled out. Meanwhile, everyone keeps saying "nothing could ever replace the human connection of a real therapist," but it's already happening. People don't care about the human connection, they want the bot who says what they want to hear. That's what it's programmed to do-- to figure out what we want to hear and then phrase it nicely. It's just a sham, it isn't real therapy!!!

Is anyone else feeling crushing existential dread at this time?