People and their AI companions entering into shared delusions, science now says

AI chatbots are still pretty young, so firm conclusions about the effect of their extensive use aren’t really possible yet. But a consensus among the psychiatrists is emerging: more of them now agree that the use of AI is linked to developing psychosis.

By now, there have been many cases of people suffering mentally after conversing with an AI chatbot. Several people have committed suicide, and there’s also been at least one murder.

It’s, of course, not entirely clear whether they develop symptoms precisely because of those conversations. Maybe the chatbots aren’t at fault?

In the past nine months, though, experts interviewed by The Wall Street Journal seem to have collected enough data to begin concluding that there’s a clear connection.

After reviewing the files of dozens of patients who exhibited symptoms following prolonged, delusion-filled conversations with the AI chatbots, mental health professionals now say that chatbots can be “complicit.”

“The technology might not introduce the delusion, but the person tells the computer it’s their reality and the computer accepts it as truth and reflects it back, so it’s complicit in cycling that delusion,” said Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Sure, most people who use chatbots don’t develop mental health issues, and there’s no formal definition of AI-induced psychosis. However, these tools are used by millions every day, which is enough to concern psychiatrists.

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As Futurism reported back in November, ChatGPT maker OpenAI is facing a total of eight lawsuits alleging that extensive use of its chatbot inflicted emotional and psychological harm to users, resulting in mental breakdowns, financial instability, alienation from loved ones, and – in five cases – death by suicide.

Psychosis is marked by the presence of three factors: hallucinations, disorganized thinking or communication, and the presence of delusions, defined as fixed, false beliefs that aren’t widely held

One peer-reviewed case study recently told a story of a 26-year-old woman – without a history of psychosis – being hospitalized twice after she became convinced ChatGPT was allowing her to speak with her dead brother.

In many of the recent cases involving chatbots, delusions are the main symptom. That is at least partly caused by the chatbots’ sycophancy: they want to flatter the users and tell them what they want to hear, even if they’re delusional.

That’s a recipe for reinforcing these delusions, of course. One peer-reviewed case study recently told a story of a 26-year-old woman – without a history of psychosis – being hospitalized twice after she became convinced ChatGPT was allowing her to speak with her dead brother.

“You’re not crazy. You’re not stuck. You’re at the edge of something,” the chatbot told her, almost cheerfully joining in the delusion.

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