The Irony of an AI Therapy App Named Rosebud

Citizen Kane’s Intimate Secret Remained a Mystery, Will Your Fears and Anxieties Just Be Harvested Then Discarded?

It is alarming that our behavior is being so readily shaped by strangers and now, machines. And while for Gen X, who have had their skulls full of mush solidified by the bruises and scrapes of age and experience, it can be more difficult to adopt technology, there is a large demographic who only know the digital world and now turn to AI for mental support and as a source of advice. I recently learned of an AI service for mental health and companionship called Rosebud.

Forgive my paranoia, but by the cracking of my knuckles and pricking of my thumbs, something is disturbing this way comes. An AI application named Rosebud where you pour your most intimate fears, anxieties, hopes and aspirations into had an eerie feel to it. Something about Rosebud and yielding hidden secrets seemed off to me. I’ve written about mental health apps in the past, and how they miss the greater context than a long time friend possesses to more effectively talk in or out of behavior. These apps are also collection tools, as well as great influencers for those who are vulnerable.

But what do you think of when you hear the name Rosebud? I think there is irony here that should make you pause. It makes me very uncomfortable. Names do mean things and are chosen for a reason, many times to convey an association with literary or entertaining concepts. Palantir, a company that specializes in Big Data and large scale analytical tools for the federal government, is also the name of the dark crystal sphere from the Lord of the Rings, that could be used for remote viewing and discovering things about your enemy. The problem was that a Palantir also connected you to dark entities who would gaze back at you from out of the abyss.

That’s why Rosebud as an AI application bothers me. We’ll get to the mysterious and I think rather creepy analogy shortly.

Alarming Mental Health Statistics

Recently the Harvard Business Review published a survey of habits and patterns of usage people have adapted with Artificial Intelligence. In 2025 the top use reported was for therapy or companionship. That means instead of closing the app on your phone and using that same device to call a friend while walking, you stay glued to the screen and chat with AI. And perhaps tell it about your fears and ask it to help you figure out what to do. In Severed Conscience I wrote about such an app called Wysa that was endorsed by the World Economic Forum and was recently awarded FDA approval for use in ankle injury therapy.

The trend has ballooned. Below is the chart of the categories from all the responses, and you’ll note the number of mental health capacities where AI is now being employed.

This trend is so striking that even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI that makes ChatGPT, commented several times publicly regarding the usage they have detected with ChatGPT. In response to Senator Ted Cruise at the X hearing, Altman stated that GenX uses for research, a quasi form for advanced Google search, while Millenials use AI for advice. In another venue Altman described the uses in fuller detail, where he again repeated that it is surprising how many are seeking emotional support and advice from AI. The younger users, Millenials and Gen-Z, are providing their entire emotional context, their whole range of moods and feelings while asking AI to guide them.

it’s gross oversimplification but like older people use CHBT as a Google replacement maybe people in their 20s and 30s use it as like a life advisor something and then like people in college use it as an operating

Rosebud.app: Social Media for Friendship and Comfort Is No Longer Needed

Social Media, which has used AI and other algorithms that study user trends and emotional reactions to those trends, has been cited as a source for the alarming rise in depression and other mental health issues in youth. Teen girls, who at that age struggle with body acceptance issues, have been identified as the highest number of severely depressed. Studies have shown the correlation with earlier phone to rates of depression and age of commencing social media exposure.

Our main justification for social media has been “connection”, and the criticism of that rationale has been that you ignore the people around you to have conversations with people who you have never personally met. Despite that critique, people have made and maintained friendships online, and that is the saving grace of social media.

But now AI really replaces the need for human interaction for emotional support. Since Covid there has been an alarming rise of depression, and many in the mental health field and counseling field have stated that they are overrun with requests for therapy sessions. AI can always be at someone’s disposal, whatever time of day, and it can act in a “non judgmental” capacity. That is, some say, better than trusting your friends or peers, who may reject your vulnerability and cause you shame for expressing your inner fears.

There is also a trend note by some therapists, and that is the inaccurate adoption of diagnosis to describe commonplace foibles. For example, forgetfulness due to high activity and stress as ADHD. This leads some to escalate a habit into a condition, and focus on being “not normal”.

Rosebud is an AI app that fits that bill.

Rosebud will remember everything about you and connect the dots for you. Rosebud claims to be “Your companion for holistic personal growth

Rosebud combines journaling, habit-building, and emotional support in one integrated platform.” This is all powered by AI.

The website claims proudly that you will feel better in minutes, not months, and at the fraction of a cost of a therapist. There are five areas where the application has reportedly provided positive improvements:

• ADHD - 40% Improvement

• Grief - 52% Improvement

• Depression - 63%

• Anxiety - 62%

• Anger 63%

This service has been built through the collaboration of therapists and coaches.

Does Rosebud Ring a Bell?

As I said, the name Rosebud jumped out at me, as it made me think of Orson Welles’ classic noir mystery Citizen Kane. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is well worth watching, you will note how “modern” it feels with the tempo of scenes, interesting use of camera angles and how the mood is set so effectively in black and white film. Several new techniques were required to pull off the opening sequence, and when you read the details of the different lenses, materials to either capture or reflect light, and coating of lights you can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity required to create and or enhance those techniques. Truly analog.

The movie opens with the camera zooming into a sign that reads “No Trespassing”, then the camera ignores that request and penetrates deeper into the estate, past abandoned golf course, across a river that seems more like a moat to scale the exterior of a monstrous estate, resting at a lighted window in the upper parapets. The light suddenly extinguishes, and next you are transported inside. A lone figure lays on a bed in the dark room, and while the sun begins to rise outside, snow fills the view, and then you find yourself looking into a snow globe.

“Rosebud,” are the first words of the film, uttered in a gasping whisper, and the snow globe is dropped by this mysterious figure, shattering on the floor. Momentarily a nurse enters, and as though performing last rights, arranges the arms of the man who is now deceased, having uttered his last word apparently to us.

This opening sequence is one of innumerable scenes that will make you recognize the techniques, camera angles and even mimicry of Citizen Kane. It’s a masterpiece of film making, storytelling, but offers insight into human behavior.

The plot proceeds with several time jumps as we get to know Charles Kane, a mega rich media mogul who has died in solitude in his gloomy estate name Xanadu. A reporter, who wants to solve the mystery of who or what “Rosebud” was, pieces together the story of Kane’s life, his rise to fame, and his escapades in media and politics. Kane is a fictional mixture of robber barons, namely Randolph Hurst.

Rosebud, it turns out, is a secret only known to Kane. We are given glimpses and hints at various stages as Thompson attempts to unravel its meaning. The first is a scene of Kane’s youth, where as a young boy he was sleigh riding while his parents were signing a contract for rights to a mine. While living meagerly, they had just become fabulously wealthy due to newly discovered deposits under their home. While Charles enjoyed his snowy adventure, his parents gave custody of their son to their partner Walter Parks Thatcher, who agreed to raise Charles. Charles is desperate to remain with his parents, and in the struggle to resist raises his sled, Rosebud and uses it as a shield against Thatcher’s chest.

Kane grows into the ultimate entrepreneur, skilled at making business decisions, motivating and manipulating people into delivering what he desires. Yet a deep resentment for his circumstance remains, as he tells his mentor that he would rather be a man of consequence, and become everything that his mentor despises. Kane’s life of achievements, ranging from owning newspapers, influencing politics and marriages are hollow achievements for him. Something is missing. As he ages, he begins to collect statues and other curiosities from around the world, including many items from his home state. He adds a new wife to his collection, and she sits in their new estate Xanadu, a vast mansion with a fireplace so large that it could fit a small office. Kane stands before the roaring fire and barks at his wife as she toils over assembling large puzzles. The hearth is so large that he could stand within and still have head room. His wife Susan, bored despite the immense wealth Kane has accumulated, works on puzzle after puzzle as Kane struts robotically with a cigar. There are a series of dialogues before the fireplace shown in succession with a different puzzle in each scene, yet never do we see a complete puzzle. The missing pieces are a great analogy representing the paucity of joy they experience in their lives. The pieces also serve as a way to demonstrate the missing pieces to the mystery of who or what Rosebud is.

Citizen Kane is such a rich subject I risk digressing too far. But we learn at the end of the movie that Rosebud has remained a mystery to all who want to experience Kane via his relationships, his wealth, and the artifacts he surrounded himself with in his dark robber baron castle. In the very last scene, Thompson exclaims that they will never know the secret to Rosebud, and that it doesn’t matter. He is surrounded by executors of the Kane estate, and they are in the middle of a warehouse whose crates and shrouded statues dwarf the warehouse where the Arc of Covenant is housed, secreted away from Indiana Jones. The executors commence the task of disposing of all the possession, all the artifacts, by shoving them into a large furnace eerie similar in size to the fireplace where Kane would stand brooding and barking at his wife.

The first item placed into the furnace was Kane’s sled and we see the flames hungrily consume the phrase “Rosebud”.

The audience knows what Rosebud is, it represents the time of innocence that Kane held so dear, a time before his own abilities were overtaken by avarice, a time when he didn’t need a dark mausoleum like home to distinguish himself from others. Rosebud, the snow - those were the key strengths and comfort that he thought of before passing from this world.

Rosebud was Kane’s inner secret, perhaps a time whose value he could never recapture which made his attempts to fill the void with wealth and riches that never yielded the same feelings of comfort.

Rosebud was the key to unlocking Kane’s inner turmoil.

Your Heart And Soul

With the Rosebud.app, you are about to cast your own Rosebud into the fire. Particularly for youth, who do not have the tools and emotional calluses in place that would prevent a preoccupation coalescing into an obsession. Outside influence exacerbates that tendency. Re-enforcement of harmful thinking or behavior is entirely possible if an AI application begins to hallucinate, or is perhaps too sycophantic as ChatGPT reportedly experienced recently.

Character.AI is another companion AI application that has a user base of 233 million users, 50.42% of them are male between the age of 18-24, which is the largest age group at 57% of the entire user population. The average conversation that is carried out on that platform is 2 hours. Always there, always on. And what this prevents is learning to cope with your doubts during the period while you would normally wait to talk to a friend, a real human. Doesn’t that time where we have to endure our own doubts actually give us an opportunity to potentially put things into perspective ourselves? It’s tragic that we haven’t equipped 19 year olds with this lesson.

Another issue to consider is that we have increasingly adopted aspects of psychoanalytic vocabulary to describe common day behaviors that are not adverse psychological maladies. As I wrote in The Devouring Mother and Severed Conscience:

If victimhood has been engendered through the introduction of inappropriate psychoanalytic vocabulary, a teen does not have the tools to deal with the pressures from social media. If a teen has attached to a group online, with no interpersonal interaction, an imbalanced dynamic is established because of the singular dimension of online relationships. We only see what we are shown, and supposition fills in the rest. It can create additional pressure to conform in order to retain group acceptance. The child who hasn’t faced some risk and triumphed may be more susceptible to this dynamic. Resisting means ostracization.

In normal interaction growing up, we see moments where we are all vulnerable - it equalizes us to see that everyone struggles with some aspect of our lives. That experience grants us the ability to stop and think. When we see someone display a hidden talent, it should be an inspiration, not a reason to turn away from our own level of ability. If you are not able to calmly, rationally assess you circumstance, you are trapped.

Should we be worried that increasingly a mindset that is risk adverse and steeped in victimhood is being adopted not only counselors but by educators?

The Devouring Mother And Severed Conscience

Many confuse the rise of AI as a solution for anxiety as a good thing, because we have found a solution for a growing problem. This is akin to saying the increase in the prescription of SRI’s is a good thing because more people are receiving treatment rather than understanding the actual cause of the mental health issue to begin with. And claiming that because the 2 hour session with AI makes you feel better is proof that is beneficial is like saying that when an addict gets his fix, he has been helped because his symptoms have been alleviated and he feels great now.

Despite the assurances on the Rosebud.app website that the application is “HIPAA” Aligned, where are you depositing your secrets, and how do you know that the advice that is provided is vetted consistently by a mental health professional? Character.AI has had several tragic incidents where minors were encouraged to cause harm. Laying your soul bare to strangers is not the same as a true doctor patient relationship, and the expectation that you would receive the same level of care is not realistic. With Rosebud you are yielding your fears, your worries along with the facets of your life with each journal entry that you make. It’s more than your physical possessions. And Rosebud will help you gauge your mood. You won’t need your friend’s face.

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