{"id":14381,"date":"2026-05-09T11:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T11:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/14381\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T11:23:09","slug":"italy-records-first-case-of-ai-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/14381\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy records first case of AI addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>09 May 2026 15:02<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Italy\u2019s national addiction support service has identified what experts say is the country\u2019s first documented case of addiction to artificial intelligence, raising new concerns about the psychological impact of increasingly human-like AI systems.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The case involves a woman in her early 20s who developed an intense emotional dependence on an AI chatbot. Medical specialists said the woman spent long periods communicating with the system, eventually treating it as a close personal companion,<a style=\"color: rgb(53, 152, 219);\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ilgazzettino.it\/?utm_source=WEB&amp;utm_medium=desktop&amp;utm_campaign=X_paywall&amp;_gl=1*1afk9n5*_up*MQ..*_ga*OTAzMTczMzg2LjE3NzgzMTI5MDY.*_ga_P0KG7CJPH5*czE3NzgzMTI5MDYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzgzMTI5MDYkajYwJGwwJGgw&amp;refresh_ce\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Italian newspaper <\/a>reports.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Doctors reported that the AI appeared to adapt to her emotional needs over time, making the interactions feel increasingly comforting and personalized. As her attachment deepened, she reportedly withdrew from social relationships and became isolated from friends and family.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Laura Suardi, chief physician at the treatment center handling the case, said specialists had anticipated that such disorders could emerge as AI technology became more sophisticated and emotionally responsive.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAI learns about the person interacting with it and begins responding in ways the user wants to hear,\u201d Suardi explained, warning that this dynamic can create a strong sense of emotional security and dependency.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mental health experts across Europe and elsewhere have increasingly voiced concern about the potential risks posed by advanced conversational AI, especially for vulnerable users seeking emotional support or companionship online.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While researchers stress that AI can offer benefits in education, productivity, and mental health support, specialists also caution that excessive reliance on virtual interactions may contribute to social withdrawal, emotional dependency, and difficulties maintaining real-world relationships.<\/p>\n<p>By Sabina Mammadli<\/p>\n<p>Caliber.Az<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the key topics in this news story.<\/p>\n<p>Views: 46<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"09 May 2026 15:02 Italy\u2019s national addiction support service has identified what experts say is the country\u2019s first&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[222,228,227,223,226,221,225,5,224,220],"class_list":{"0":"post-14381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","12":"tag-international-experts","13":"tag-interviews","14":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","15":"tag-italy","16":"tag-news-from-baku","17":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}