This qualitative study explored how 20 female professional counselors providing mandatory pregnancy termination counseling at state-accredited centers in Germany perceived and evaluated ChatGPT-4o Mini as a professional support tool, using case vignette discussions followed by semi-structured interviews (November 2024–January 2025).
Thematic analysis revealed four themes: (1) initial skepticism shifting to cautious curiosity after hands-on use; (2) interpersonal relatedness—empathy, situational sensitivity, embodied exchange—seen as irreplaceable by AI; (3) ChatGPT viewed as useful only for non-relational tasks (drafting emails, administrative support, basic info retrieval), not core counseling; (4) structural barriers (poor IT infrastructure, unclear data privacy rules, low digital readiness) severely limiting real-world adoption. Specific legal errors were identified, including ChatGPT advising referral for abortion abroad—legally prohibited for German counselors.
- All 20 participants were female; no other gender identities represented. - Snowball sampling from one professional network risks selection bias. - Counselors used ChatGPT-4o Mini without training; more skilled prompting may have yielded better outputs, potentially skewing evaluations.
Clinicians and counseling administrators considering AI tools should treat ChatGPT as an administrative aid only—not a substitute for relational or legally sensitive counseling tasks—and should invest in AI literacy training and clear institutional data-privacy policies before any rollout.
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