The Better AI Gets at Talking to Us, the More Important Human Connection Becomes

AI is becoming part of everyday life at a remarkable pace. In international education, it is already changing how students learn, how staff work and how organisations think about delivering services.

There are plenty of good reasons for that. AI can help us find information, make sense of complicated things, manage workloads and access support more easily. For international students on a study abroad programme, it can help with everything from translating a menu to navigating an unfamiliar healthcare system. For staff, it can take some of the pressure out of busy working days.

Yet as we become more comfortable turning to technology, there is another question worth asking, “Are we giving enough thought to the role of human connection?” Having access to more conversations does not necessarily mean feeling more connected.

The loneliness paradox

We have never had more ways to stay in touch. A student studying overseas can speak to family back home in seconds, and staff working abroad can keep up with friends, colleagues and communities thousands of miles away. Social media lets us find people with similar interests and experiences, wherever they happen to be. And yet loneliness remains a significant issue. The World Health Organization estimates that around one in six people worldwide experience loneliness, with young people among those reporting some of the highest levels.

This is particularly relevant to student mental health on study abroad programmes. Moving to another country is an exciting opportunity, but it also means leaving behind familiar people, places and routines. Students are expected to settle in, make friends, manage their studies and deal with culture shock, often within a few weeks of arriving. Adjusting overseas takes time, and the programme calendar doesn’t always allow for it.

Staff can face many of the same challenges, and someone working on an overseas programme might spend their days surrounded by students and colleagues while being a long way from their own support network. They are often the person everyone turns to when something goes wrong, which can make it harder to admit when they are struggling themselves. Being surrounded by people is not the same as feeling connected to them.

Where does AI fit into this?

How AI wellbeing tools are evolving

The mental health space is starting to reflect this distinction too. Some AI wellbeing tools act as anonymous, always-available chatbots built on evidence-based techniques. Others take a youth-focused approach and position themselves as an extra resource alongside counsellors rather than a replacement. A newer group puts human support at the centre and uses AI around it. They are different models, but they all come back to the same question: what should AI do, and what should remain human?

AI should lead people to people

At mindhamok, we’re exploring how AI could support our own services, so we’ve had to think carefully about this. In student mental health, we think AI earns its place when it helps someone reach the right human support sooner, and gets things wrong when it becomes a substitute for it.

Think of a student in accommodation abroad at 2am, unsure whether what they’re feeling is homesickness, a hangover or something more serious. They often don’t know what help exists, or whether their problem is “big enough” to ask for it. That first step is where AI can be really useful. It can answer the question they’re too embarrassed to ask a person, explain what counselling involves and point them towards a helpline or a licensed counsellor.

What it shouldn’t do is keep them talking. A wellbeing tool that measures success by how long someone stays in the conversation is working against the person using it. These risks are already on regulators’ radar, and in 2025 Illinois became one of the first US states to bar AI from providing professional therapy without a licensed professional involved. As we explore developing our own, these are the principles it would need to meet:

• It is always clear that it’s AI.
• It hands over to a person whenever risk or distress calls for it.
• It’s judged by how many people reach the right support, not by how much they use the tool.

We’d encourage anyone buying or building AI wellbeing tools for students to hold them to the same standard.

The role of staff is easy to underestimate

When we talk about student wellbeing, the conversation often focuses on formal services. Counselling, helplines, online resources and professional support all matter, but they are only one part of the picture, and the network of people around students matters too.

A member of staff might be the first person a student speaks to when they are struggling. They might notice a change in behaviour before anyone else does, and a student may find them easier to approach because a relationship already exists. That doesn’t mean staff should become mental health professionals. What it means is recognising the position they are already in and giving them the knowledge, confidence and support to respond well.

The same applies to staff wellbeing. We can’t expect people to keep supporting others while their own need for connection goes unnoticed. An organisation where colleagues talk openly, check in with each other and ask for help is a healthier place to work, and its students feel the benefit too.

Connection is part of prevention

We tend to think about mental health support once something has already gone wrong. A prevention-first approach asks earlier questions, like whether students feel they belong, whether they know where to go for help, and whether anyone would notice if something changed. Staff need the same, along with the confidence to start a difficult conversation and somewhere to turn themselves, and none of that has a technological answer.

This is also where the interests of everyone with a duty of care meet. Study abroad providers, universities and insurers all want problems spotted and supported early, before they become a crisis far from home. A student who gets support in their second week is usually having a very different experience from one whose struggles go unnoticed until they need emergency care or an early flight home. Early intervention is kinder to the student and far less disruptive, and less costly, for everyone responsible for them.

“We tend to see two peaks in counselling requests. The first is early in the semester, when students come to us because they are struggling to adjust, often feeling homesick and out of place, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression. The good news is that after a small number of sessions, many develop new routines and coping strategies and go on to enjoy their experience. Towards the end of the semester, however, we see our second peak. These are often students who have been struggling since the beginning but have not reach out, and by then some are at crisis point. Many of these referrals come through staff, either because the student has approached them or because a lecturer, or indeed another student has noticed that something is very wrong”

Leanne Elliott, Clinical Lead at mindhamok.

Questions worth asking before your next cohort departs

For anyone working in education abroad, a few questions are a useful test of how connected your support really is:

• Do students hear about wellbeing support before they leave, or only once they arrive?
• Are on-site staff trained to spot early signs and start a conversation, and who supports them afterwards?
• If you use digital or AI tools, do they route students to a person, and how quickly?
• Can a student reach a licensed counsellor in the middle of the night in their host country?
• Is anyone checking whether support reaches students early enough to make a difference?

The future still needs people

AI will keep changing the way we work and live, and international education will adapt alongside it. There is a real opportunity to use technology to improve access, reduce barriers and help people find support faster. We should be just as ambitious about protecting the human side of wellbeing.

No matter how good technology becomes at answering a question or holding a conversation, being known by another person is something different. For students and staff living and working across borders, that sense of belonging matters more than most. The better AI gets at talking to us, the more important it becomes that we keep talking to each other.

If any of the questions above are hard to answer for your programme, we’d be happy to talk them through with you. Get in touch with the mindhamok team below.