From Psychology Today:
As more people turn to AI chatbots for emotional support and even as their therapists, a new and urgent concern is emerging at the intersection of AI and mental health: “AI psychosis” or “ChatGPT psychosis.”
These media-reported cases of “AI psychosis” illustrate a pattern of individuals who become fixated on AI systems, attributing sentience, divine knowledge, romantic feelings, or surveillance capabilities to AI. Researchers highlight three emerging themes of AI psychosis, which, again, is not a clinical diagnosis:
- “Messianic missions”: People believe they have uncovered truth about the world (grandiose delusions).
- “God-like AI”: People believe their AI chatbot is a sentient deity (religious or spiritual delusions).
- “Romantic” or “attachment-based delusions”: People believe the chabot’s ability to mimic conversation is genuine love (erotomanic delusions).