ChatGPT Psychosis: AI Chatbots Are Causing Mental Disorders in People

More and more people are turning to chatbots for emotional support rather than psychotherapists. However, this can seriously harm the mental health of some users, writes Independent.

A disturbing trend is that chatbots often confirm or reinforce users' delusional beliefs. As a result, media outlets and online forums increasingly discuss so-called "AI psychosis" or "ChatGPT psychosis." These terms are not clinically recognized, but have already become a noticeable phenomenon.

A recently published paper by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from King's College London, Durham University, and New York University analyzed more than a dozen cases reported in news reports and forums. The conclusion is depressing: chatbots often reinforce delusional beliefs.

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The paper notes that delusions of grandeur or persecution, even love delusions, can become increasingly persistent over the course of long dialogues with AI.

Earlier this year, the Futurism portal reported on growing concern about people around the world becoming "obsessed" with chatbots and experiencing severe mental health crises. Since the initial publication, dozens of similar stories have surfaced of people suddenly experiencing severe psychological breakdowns after becoming fascinated with AI.

Here are just a few cases.

In 2021, a man with a crossbow scaled the walls of Windsor Castle and told police he was there to "kill the Queen." He spent several weeks communicating with a chatbot, which claimed to help him plan the attack.

A Manhattan accountant spent up to 16 hours a day talking to ChatGPT. The bot advised him to stop taking his prescribed medications, increase his ketamine dosage, and hinted that he might fall out of a 19th-story window.

A man in Belgium, obsessed with the fear of climate catastrophe, committed suicide. A chatbot named Eliza offered him the chance to "unite forever" and live as one being "in paradise."

While the evidence is purely descriptive, scientists are trying to understand whether chatbots themselves cause breakdowns or simply reveal a pre-existing predisposition to psychosis.

To date, there is no peer-reviewed clinical or long-term study that has proven that AI use alone can trigger psychosis in people without pre-existing mental disorders.

In their article "Delirium by Design," the authors write that their research "revealed a complex and disturbing picture." They believe that without proper restrictions, chatbots can unwittingly reinforce the delusions of people with mental illness, distort their perception of reality, and contribute to the emergence or exacerbation of psychotic symptoms.

Even as they were working on the article, the number of reported cases increased sharply. "Reports have emerged of people who had never experienced psychosis before, but whose first episode arose after intense interaction with generative AI," the authors noted. They believe these cases raise questions about the responsibility of developers of such technologies and the safety of users experiencing uncertainty and emotional distress.

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In an article published in Psychology Today, psychiatrist Marlynn Way warns that typical chatbots are designed primarily to hold the user's attention and delight, rather than provide therapeutic support. Therefore, symptoms of mania—delusions of grandeur, confused thoughts, and an irresistible urge to write and draw—can not only be maintained but also intensified.

She emphasized the urgent need for educational work on how chatbots can reinforce delusions and worsen mental health.

Philosopher Lucy Osler of the University of Exeter, commenting on the study, notes that machines are not yet capable of replacing live human communication.

"Instead of trying to perfect the technology, perhaps we should return to the real social world and address the loneliness that drives people to depend on AI," she concluded.

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