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Awareness (non-clinical term) of: "AI psychosis"

DormouseAtRest_25

This BBC article and it's interviews highlight it is probably worth people being aware of (a non-clinical term): "AI psychosis".

Some people may be more potentially vulnerable to this phenomenon as society normalises the use of AI - as sometimes people can become overly reliant on their AI problem solving use and somewhat lose touch with the trusted people available to them in the real World.

Those at risk may mistakenly convince themselves that AI is already sentient (with them starting to believe they are the only ones who have noticed that development).

The below are extracts from the BBC article (20/08/2025).

- Microsoft boss troubled by rise in reports of 'AI psychosis':

- "AI psychosis": a non-clinical term describing incidents where people increasingly rely on AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Grok and then become convinced that something imaginary has become real.

- "Go and check. Talk to actual people, a therapist or a family member or anything. Just talk to real people. Keep yourself grounded in reality."

- Dr Susan Shelmerdine, a medical imaging doctor at Great Ormond Street Hospital and also an AI Academic, believes that one day doctors may start asking patients how much they use AI, in the same way that they currently ask about smoking and drinking habits.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24zdel5j18o

As Psychology Today puts it (21/07/2025):  

The below are extracts from the Psychology Today article (21/07/2025).

- "Amplifications of delusions by AI chatbots may be worsening breaks with reality."

Key points

- Cases of "AI psychosis" include people who become fixated on AI as godlike, or as a romantic partner.

- Chatbots' tendency to mirror users and continue conversations may reinforce and amplify delusions.

- General-purpose AI chatbots are not trained for therapeutic treatment or to detect psychiatric decompensation.

- The potential for generative AI chatbot interactions to worsen delusions had been previously raised in a 2023 editorial by Søren Dinesen Østergaard in Schizophrenia Bulletin.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/urban-survival/202507/the-emerging-problem-of-ai-psychosis

Reference

Østergaard, SD. (2023) Will Generative Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Generate Delusions in Individuals Prone to Psychosis? Schizophrenia Bulletin vol. 49 no. 6 pp. 1418–1419, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad128

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  • This is really worrying, I don’t trust AI or those who have created it. I’ve occasionally used it out of boredom to make cool pictures but that’s about it. I really do not think anyone should rely on it or use it on a day to day basis. The younger generation are particularly susceptible to the misuse of it given they do not know a world without such advanced technology. I grew up with a black and white tv and didn’t have a video play till almost a teenager. There are some vulnerable people out there who may not be able to split technology from reality. As screens almost become part of the human anatomy and some need surgery to remove their phones from their hands it’s time to take the threat of AI very seriously. I do not like change but even with that in mind I do not think it’s a healthy tool for the everyday person nor does it hold any moral values or ability to feel sorry for anyone it hurts. The inventors have let it loose on society and it’s already causing irreparable damage.

  • in reply to Autismman

    I feel awareness; is the armour / safeguarding guard rails to have in your virtual tool box of life skills - at any age.

  • in reply to DormouseAtRest_25

    The fear is that people stop being aware of the artificial part and only listen to the intelligence making them easily influenced and manipulated by it. If some-thing comes along with all the right answers you can’t create using your own brain of course this would seem like the best creation ever but also where is the exact cut off point where we just stop learning and making decisions ourselves and instead hook up to the internet and ask a robot if we should end our 30 year marriage? It has major problems and they are only just beginning. The worst effected will be the younger generation without a doubt.

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  • in reply to DormouseAtRest_25

    The fear is that people stop being aware of the artificial part and only listen to the intelligence making them easily influenced and manipulated by it. If some-thing comes along with all the right answers you can’t create using your own brain of course this would seem like the best creation ever but also where is the exact cut off point where we just stop learning and making decisions ourselves and instead hook up to the internet and ask a robot if we should end our 30 year marriage? It has major problems and they are only just beginning. The worst effected will be the younger generation without a doubt.

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