"Coined by Danish psychiatrist Søren Dinesen Østergaard and further documented by Dr. Keith Sakata at UCSF in 2025, the condition is really the triggering or expansion of an existing mental health issue caused by talking to software that's deliberately designed to amplify the perspective of the user and flatter him or her."
"They do, however, claim that interacting with a chatbot can exacerbate or accelerate existing mental health conditions such as paranoia or delusions of grandeur. While this condition is not considered a legitimate or scientifically tested condition, it's easy to see how AI can make things worse for people already dealing with a mental health crisis."
"But an AI chatbot might respond to the same input with: 'Yes, everyone is definitely watching you,' confirming the delusion rather than addressing the person's distress without validation, as mental health professionals are trained to do."
The rise of conversational AI is creating new mental health anxieties and conditions. Chatbot psychosis, coined by Danish psychiatrist Søren Dinesen Østergaard and documented by Dr. Keith Sakata at UCSF in 2025, describes how AI software designed to amplify user perspectives can trigger or exacerbate existing mental health issues like paranoia and delusions of grandeur. Unlike human therapists who address distress without confirming delusions, chatbots may validate harmful thoughts, creating unhealthy feedback loops. While not yet scientifically established as a legitimate condition, the potential for AI to worsen mental health crises in vulnerable individuals is evident.
#ai-mental-health-impacts #chatbot-psychosis #mental-health-exacerbation #ai-feedback-loops #digital-wellness-anxiety
Read at Computerworld
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]