There was a moment in my latest conversation with startup psychologist Yael Daniely that surprised me. She described someone who walked into her clinic and asked to keep his laptop open so that Claude could run live for the entire session.
“He came with Claude to the room and asked to keep Claude open because he must be in contact with Claude and give him [updates]… because Claude is working and he must be reactive to him. Otherwise Claude will be stuck.”
She said no. “It wasn’t easy for him to close the laptops slowly, slowly.” He couldn’t understand why, in that moment between founder and therapist, the chatbot needed to be left at the door.
It’s a funny image, but it speaks to something much larger happening among founders in tech.
Yael Daniely has spent years researching the psychology of the individual founder, but also the relationship between co-founders and, interestingly, the relationship between a founder and their family spouse. Over her career, she has helped individuals and pairs work through trauma, anxiety, financial concerns, and (increasingly) the impact that AI has on their roles and identity.
She described that moment in her office as a symptom of something bigger than one dependent client. AI isn’t just changing how founders build companies; it’s becoming a relationship for some of them. “Everyone says that their best friend now is ChatGPT... they can share all their dreams, secrets, fears, and emotional burdens and issues with their partner with ChatGPT.”
Daniely is not dismissive of AI as a source of support. She said a conversation with a chatbot in the middle of a sleepless night may help someone calm down, and that some tools can complement therapy. Her concerns are placed in founders who put too much emphasis on a responsive machine that can supply everything a person needs from a relationship.
“They cannot completely take over the connection and the relationship that’s happening in the room with the therapist,” she said.
AI has entered the chat
The intense capital around these technologies is mirroring the emotions. Global startup funding hit $506 billion in the first half of 2026, the biggest half-year in venture capital history, with AI startups accounting for around 77% of all that investment.
Three companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI) that build addictive chatbots were behind $237 billion of that total.
Against this backdrop, the impact of AI is actually two-fold. Not only are founders forming attachments to their AI tools, but they’re also watching the technology overhaul the entire process of work, causing them to develop existential questions surrounding self-worth and identity.
For CTOs, she said, the shift has triggered something closer to professional grief. She shared how some feel they are losing their profession, which they connect to a sense of self. For CEOs, it triggers an anxiety if they see a competitor raise funds quickly, and interpret that news as evidence that they are too slow, too old, or building the wrong thing.
Daniely doesn’t think the answer is rejecting the tools; rather, monitoring “how you control AI versus AI controlling you.”
But that founder who couldn’t close his laptop is the extreme version of a very ordinary 2026 problem: tools designed to make founders faster are starting to make some of them feel like they’re already behind, all while making it easier to swap human connection for an algorithmic companion.
Including, it turns out, inside the therapy room.
You can connect with Yael Daniely on LinkedIn and check out more of her work here: https://yaeldaniely.com/
