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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n ChatGPT<\/a> and other popular AI chatbots are pushing people towards psychosis<\/a>, according to a new report.<\/p>\n Co-authored by NHS<\/a> doctors, the study warns that there is growing evidence that large language models (LLMs) \u201cblur reality boundaries\u201d for vulnerable users and \u201ccontribute to the onset or exacerbation of psychotic symptoms\u201d.<\/p>\n The research follows dozens of reports<\/a> of people spiralling into what has been dubbed \u201cchabot psychosis\u201d.<\/p>\n Hamilton Morrin, a neuropsychiatrist at King\u2019s College London who was involved in the study, described chatbot psychosis as a \u201cgenuine phenomenon\u201d that is only just beginning to be understood.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile some public commentary has veered into moral panic territory, we think there\u2019s a more interesting and important conversation to be had about how AI systems, particularly those designed to affirm, engage and emulate, might interact with the known cognitive vulnerabilities that characterise psychosis,\u201d he wrote in a post<\/a> to LinkedIn.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are likely past the point where delusions happen to be about machines, and already entering an era when they happen with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-author Tom Pollack, who lectures at King\u2019s College London, said that psychiatric disorders \u201crarely appear out of nowhere\u201d but said the use of AI chatbots could be a \u201cprecipitating factor\u201d.<\/p>\n He called on AI firms to introduce more safeguards to their tools, and for AI safety teams to include psychiatrists.<\/p>\n The Independent has reached out to OpenAI for comment on the phenomenon. The company has previously said that it needs to \u201ckeep raising the bar on safety, alignment, and responsiveness to the ways people actually use AI in their lives\u201d.<\/p>\n OpenAI boss Sam Altman said during a podcast appearance in May that his company was struggling to put working safeguards in place for vulnerable ChatGPT users.<\/p>\n \u201cTo users that are in a fragile enough mental place, that are on the edge of a psychotic break, we haven\u2019t yet figured out how a warning gets through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n