The AI Placebo Effect: Anthropomorphic Attribution as a Mechanism in Digital Mental Health Interventions (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Digital therapeutic alliance research suggests that patients experience AI chatbot interactions like face-to-face therapy. However, phenomenological analysis concludes that an authentic alliance requires embodied, conscious interaction, which is impossible with AI systems. This creates a puzzle: What explains the measurable patient benefits? Drawing from human-computer interaction research, the "AI placebo effect" is proposed: therapeutic benefits arising from patients' inability to perceive complex language without attributing subjectivity behind it. This concept requires research methodologies inspired by pharmaceutical placebo studies.