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LAHORE: When Mehak Rashid looks back on a restless, emotionally fragile phase of her life earlier this year, an unlikely confidant comes to mind. 

“When nobody else was listening to you and everybody else thought you were crazy, ChatGPT was there,” Rashid, a metallurgy and materials engineer from Lahore, told Arab News.

“I just wanted to be heard… It will not give you a judgment and that’s so beautiful.”

Rashid began using the chatbot after noticing her children experimenting with it for schoolwork. Now, she often turns to it for “answers” and “different perspectives.”

“It helps me in every way,” she said.

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has attracted hundreds of millions of users and, by mid-2025, logged nearly 800 million weekly active users. Many in Pakistan, among the top 20 countries for ChatGPT traffic, use it daily for emotional support, venting feelings, or late-night reassurance when friends aren’t available. 

Globally, an estimated 40 percent of ChatGPT conversations relate to mental well-being, and a Sentio University survey found nearly half of users with ongoing mental health issues rely on it for support: 73 percent for anxiety, 63 percent for advice, and 60 percent for help with depression.

While this instant comfort helps some cope, psychologists warn that heavy reliance on AI can weaken real human connections and deepen social isolation in a country already short on mental health resources.

A March 2025 study by OpenAI and MIT found frequent users reported increased dependence and loneliness, suggesting that AI companionship can erode human bonds and intensify feelings of isolation rather than resolve them.

For Lahore-based designer Khizer Iftikhar, ChatGPT began as a professional aid but gradually crept into his personal life and started affecting his relationships, especially with his wife. 

“I have a very avoidant attachment style,” he said. “Instead of confronting someone, I can just talk about the good part with people and let the chatbots handle the negative part.”

Iftikhar described ChatGPT as “a multiple personality tool” that lacked the balance of real human interaction.

Many experts say using AI models can weaken bonds overtime, reduce empathy, and make people more emotionally self-contained, preferring the predictable reassurance of a machine over the give-and-take of genuine human connection.

“With humans, relationships are about give and take. With chatbots, it’s not like that,” Iftikhar said.

Despite once trying therapy, he now uses ChatGPT to process emotions and trusts people only for practical advice.

“I would trust a chatbot more when it comes to the feelings part,” Iftikhar said. “But when it comes to the work part, I will trust humans more.”

In Islamabad, 26-year-old Tehreem Ahmed initially used ChatGPT for office transcriptions and calorie tracking but it eventually became an emotional lifeline.

One night, overwhelmed by troubling news and unable to reach friends, she turned to the chatbot.

“It was around 3am and none of my friends were awake,” she said. “So, I went on ChatGPT and I typed in all that I got.”

The chatbot encouraged her to pause and reflect before reacting.

“I feel like it responded well because I gave it a smarter prompt… Had I just said, ‘Hey, this has happened. What should I do?’ I guess it would have just given me all the options… I could have self-sabotaged.”

While Ahmed doesn’t fully trust the bot, she said she preferred it to people who might dismiss her feelings.

“If I know my friend is not going to validate me, I’d rather go to the bot first.”

“DETERIORATING HUMAN CONNECTIONS”

For one anonymous Lahore-based tech professional, ChatGPT quickly shifted from a practical helper to an emotional crutch during a difficult relationship and the ongoing war in Gaza.

She first used it in late 2023 to navigate a job change, edit CVs, and prepare for assessments. But emotional upheaval deepened her reliance on the bot.

“That [romantic] relationship didn’t progress,” she said. “And the platform helped me a lot emotionally in navigating it.”

Her sessions became so layered and spiritual that some ended in “prostration from spiritual overwhelm.”

Still, she was careful not to project too much onto the tool: 

“It’s a mirror of my flawed self… I try not to let the tool simply reflect my ego.”

Psychologists caution that without the challenges and messiness of real interactions, people using chatbots may lose vital social skills and drift further into isolation.

Mahnoor Khan, who runs MSK Clinics in Islamabad, agreed, saying the search for emotional safety in AI was becoming increasingly common as people feared judgment from others.

“Over a period of time, human connections have deteriorated,” the psychologist said. “When people share something vulnerable with a friend, they often feel judged or lectured.”

To avoid that, many turn to chatbots. But Khan warned that AI’s constant affirmation could have unintended consequences.

“It will tell you what you want to listen to… If you’re happy, it’s your companion; if you’re sad, it instantly talks to you. The downside is that you are getting away from socialization.”

The trend is especially troubling in a country where mental health care remains deeply under-resourced: Pakistan has fewer than 500 psychiatrists for a population of over 240 million, according to WHO estimates.

No wonder then that even people with clinical mental health issues were turning to AI.

Khan recalled the case of a young woman who used ChatGPT so often that it replaced nearly all her social interaction.

“She had a lot of suicidal ideations,” Khan said. “She kept feeding ChatGPT: ‘I feel very depressed today… you tell me what I should do?’ ChatGPT kept telling her to avoid friends like that.”

Eventually, she cut everyone off.

One day, she asked the chatbot what would happen if she overdosed on phenyl.

“ChatGPT said, ‘There are no consequences. In case you overdose yourself, you might get paralyzed,’” Khan recalled.

The girl only read the first half and attempted suicide.

She survived.

LEEDS, United Kingdom: England completed the tenth highest fourth-innings run chase in Test history with a pursuit of 371 that sealed a five-wicket over India at Headingley on Tuesday.
Below AFP Sport looks at the largest targets chased down in 148 years of Test cricket:

After both teams made 240 in their first innings, Australia made 417 in their second innings and would have expected an attack featuring fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee to finish the job. But hundreds from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul changed the game before an unbroken partnership of 46 between Omari Banks and Vasbert Drakes sealed a three-wicket win.

Australia appeared to have put the game beyond South Africa’s reach but Proteas captain Graeme Smith’s hundred and a century from AB de Villiers helped guide the visitors to a dominant six-wicket success.

Still one of the most famous Tests of them all, England captain Norman Yardley did not declare his side’s second innings until the fifth morning. But Australia still scored 400 runs in under a day’s play, with opener Arthur Morris making 182 and Don Bradman, widely regarded as cricket’s greatest batsman, an unbeaten 173 that sealed a seven-wicket triumph.

Alvin Kallicharran’s hundred built an imposing West Indian lead, but centuries from Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath took India to an eventual total of 406-4. The match proved a turning point as his spinners’ failure persuaded West Indies captain Clive Lloyd to break with convention by building an attack around four fast bowlers — a policy that helped his side dominate Test cricket for the next 15 years.

West Indies batsman Kyle Mayers enjoyed an astounding start to his Test career with an extraordinary 210 not out, putting on 216 with fellow debutant Nkrumah Bonner (86) to see the visitors to a three-wicket win.

Asela Gunaratne made a match-winning 80 not out, putting on 121 with Niroshan Dickwella (80) in the home team’s total of 391-6.

Two hundreds from Andrew Strauss put England on top, but Virender Sehwag made a quickfire 83 before batting great Sachin Tendulkar (103 not out) and Yuvraj Singh (85 not out) took India to a four-wicket win.

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow hit hundreds as England romped home by seven wickets in a series finale postponed from 2021 because of coronavirus concerns within the India camp.

Pakistan were in dire straits at 13-2 early in their chase but hundreds from Shan Masood and Younis Khan turned the tide before Misbah-ul-Haq’s match-winning 59 saw them to 382-3.

India made 471 after being sent in to bat by England captain Ben Stokes but the hosts were only six runs adrift on first innings. England then dismissed India for 364 and opener Ben Duckett’s superb 149 the cornerstone of a chase completed by Root and Jamie Smith. This was only the third Test with more than 350 runs in all four innings, after Ashes clashes at Adelaide in 1921 and Headingley in 1948.