ChatGPT, Meet Tony Soprano: How Psychology Students Use AI to Hone Skills
Simulations provide high-tech training for future psychologists
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
Tony. Carmela. A.J. Livia. Junior. Christopher. Silvio. Janice. To fans of HBO’s flagship series The Sopranos, they’re some of most memorable names in the history of TV. But in a Dickinson classroom, they’re riveting case studies—brought to life with a boost from AI.
Students in an innovative forensic psychology course use AI chatbots like ChatGPT to simulate clinical interviews with Sopranos characters. The result? A compelling, high-tech learning experience that helps turbocharge their clinical skills.
Getting made
The course, Advanced Forensic Psychology: Theory, Practice and Application, was developed by Howard Rosen, a practicing forensic psychologist. Inspired by a campus AI workshop and his appreciation for The Sopranos’ complex characterizations, he used ChatGPT to identify scenes in the 86-episode series that illustrate a variety of psychological and legal issues. Then Rosen instructed GPT to answer questions as the character Silvio Dante.
Rosen, who’s practiced psychology for four decades, prompted the chatbot with questions a forensic psychologist would ask Silvio prior to a trial. The results floored him.
“It gave me an instant screenplay—and it was almost exactly what I’d expect Silvio to say if I were interviewing him in my office,” he recalled.
Pilot simulations with other Sopranos main characters were likewise convincing. So were GPT-generated case files, featuring school records, psychological test scores, rap sheets and the like.
Even better: The GPT interview sessions proved more comfortable and fruitful than traditional classroom role-plays. Instead of learning the ropes by awkwardly interviewing classmates, students could access a tireless learning partner on demand, one that responded like a skilled character actor with encyclopedic knowledge of the role.
Bada bing, bada boom!
Rosen premiered the course this past spring.
While the students learned the basics through traditional readings and discussions, Tony Soprano’s mother and sister were exhibits A and B in lessons on evaluating emotional and physical abuse. Christopher’s story revealed factors to consider when awarding child custody. Junior Soprano schooled students on competency evaluations. Silvio offered insights on mitigation. The students also explored A.J.’s delinquency, Brendan’s amenability to rehabilitation and Dr. Melfi’s ethical dilemmas—and in vivid ways.
“ChatGPT did not just generate facts and data from the show, but it replicated the character's emotions and feelings,” stressed psychology major Christina DiGiorgio ’27, adding that these experiences “opened up a whole new level of understanding and personal connection [with the material].”
Anna Choudary ’25 (psychology) learned the value of soliciting multiple viewpoints through her GPT sessions. She found that while Tony deflected most questions with humor, he did share that his mother made him feel “like a failure.” A follow-up with Tony’s mother, Livia, indirectly corroborated the belittlement. “When questioned about his childhood accomplishments, Livia said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t throw a parade, that’s for sure,’ ” Choudary recalled.
The bottom line
In all, the students “interviewed” seven “clients,” evaluating their cognitive functioning, personality traits, trauma history, emotional regulation and behavior patterns. They wrote seven detailed forensic reports, and they prepared written testimony and presented it in a peer-evaluated mock trial.
The material was challenging, says Rosen, a tough grader who didn’t learn forensic interview techniques until graduate school. Some characters, like Christopher, present comorbid conditions. Evaluating Junior’s competency, the students not only interviewed a suspected dementia patient with a history of lying but also analyzed sophisticated neurological test results and determined whether any impairment was permanent or temporary.
“That requires strong critical thinking,” said Rosen, who will each the course again in the fall. “These students are getting some high-quality training, and it helps prepare them for careers where careful analysis and ethical reasoning are essential.” (To guard against students using AI to write reports and analyze test results, he solicited early, ungraded writing samples and used them as baselines for the students’ writing without AI assistance.)
And the innovations didn’t stay in the classroom. Four students shared their findings last May, during the college’s first AI Symposium. Abigail Foster ’26 (neuroscience, psychology) walked the audience through her thorough evaluation of Christopher. (She concluded that he should receive long-term inpatient treatment for substance abuse, depression and trauma, as well as targeted psychoeducation, parenting classes and a 12-month evaluation for supervised parental visits.)
The experience reinforced Foster’s interest in forensic psychology and her plans to pursue a Ph.D. And it opened her eyes to the ways chatbots and large language models can help students make the most of clinical training.
“Using ChatGPT was honestly more helpful than I expected,” Foster explained. “I think if we had interviewed each other, it would’ve been harder to stay in character or to maintain the same psychological complexity that the AI brought to the table.”
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Published July 10, 2025