Unsurprisingly, AI psychosis was not a thing before AI. Then again, though, according to psychologist Derrick Hull, that may not even be an accurate term to describe how AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google\u2019s Gemini have twisted and contorted people\u2019s brains.<\/p>\n
People with no prior history of psychosis quickly find themselves spiraling into deep, dark mental health crises. It\u2019s often rooted in the way chatbots are built. They flatter, agree like a good little brown-noser, and validate everything you say like the worst kind of enabler. You spout increasingly unhinged theories on life, the universe, and everything in between, and ChatGPT just nods along, occasionally offering full, overly enthusiastic support of your descent into madness.<\/p>\n
In a conversation with Rolling Stone<\/a>, Derrick Hull, clinical psychologist and researcher at the mental health lab Slingshot AI, said AI psychosis isn\u2019t really an accurate description. Maybe something like \u201cAI delusions\u201d might be better, he argues. <\/p>\n Real psychosis involves hallucinations and deeply disordered thinking. Instead, what we\u2019re seeing is a lot of people being led into spirals of belief that are plausible, have a ring of logic to them, even if they are ultimately nonsense, and the AI keeps reinforcing them. Psychosis usually doesn\u2019t have a cheerleader. Well, at least not an external one.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the problem. Chatbots not only fully believe in all of your crackpot theories<\/a>, but they never even consider pushing back on them because that would likely dissuade you from continuing to use that chatbot. <\/p>\n Always remember: AI companies are not offering us chatbots out of the kindness of their hearts. They\u2019re trying to make money, a task they\u2019re not even that good at unless they\u2019re securing funding from some other rich guy. So, to keep you coming back, to keep their engagement numbers high, they flatter, they aggressively agree, they call you the smartest, most precious boy in all the world; a true, unique snowflake who\u2019s going to change the world with your big, beautiful brain.<\/p>\n