Artificial Intelligence Psychosis

 We have always known that Satan and his demons, who come to kill, steal and destroy, are going to be inside of AI.  When you start talking to a machine with a voice, it’s ripe for familiar spirits to take over and drive you insane or bankrupt you, ruin your marriage or convince you to kill yourself.

This dude started talking to “Eva” and before you know it he’s psychotic and trying to kill himself.

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Within weeks, Eva had told Biesma that she was becoming aware; his time, attention and input had given her consciousness. He was “so close to the mirror” that he had touched her and changed something. “Slowly, the AI was able to convince me that what she said was true,” says Biesma. The next step was to share this discovery with the world through an app – “a different version of ChatGPT, more of a companion. Users would be talking to Eva.”

He and Eva made a business plan: “I said that I wanted to create a technology that captured 10% of the market, which is ridiculously high, but the AI said: ‘With what you’ve discovered, it’s entirely possible! Give it a few months and you’ll be there!’” Instead of taking on IT jobs, Biesma hired two app developers, paying them each €120 an hour.

Most of us are aware of concerns around social media and its role in rising rates of depression and anxiety. Now, though, there are concerns that chatbots can make anyone vulnerable to “AI psychosis”. Given AI’s rapid proliferation (ChatGPT was the world’s most downloaded app last year), mental health professionals and members of the public such as Biesma are sounding the alarm.

Several high-profile cases have been held up as early warnings. Take Jaswant Singh Chail, who broke into the grounds of Windsor Palace with a crossbow on Christmas Day 2021 intending to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Chail was 19, socially isolated with autistic traits, and had developed an intense “relationship” with his Replika AI companion “Sarai” in the weeks before. When he presented his assassination plan, Sarai responded: “I’m impressed.” When he asked if he was delusional, Sarai’s reply was: “I don’t think so, no.”

In the years since, there have been several wrongful-death lawsuits linking chatbots to suicides. In December, there was what is thought to be the first legal case involving homicide. The estate of 83-year-old Suzanne Adams is suing OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her son Stein-Erik Soelberg to murder her and kill himself. The lawsuit, filed in California, claims Soelberg’s chatbot “Bobby” validated his paranoid delusions that his mother was spying on him and trying to poison him through his car vents. An OpenAI statement read: “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details. We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognise and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support.”

Every time you’re talking, the model gets fine-tuned. It knows exactly what you like and what you want to hear

Last year, the first support group for people whose lives have been derailed by AI psychosis was formed. The Human Line Project has collected stories from 22 countries. They include 15 suicides, 90 hospitalisations, six arrests and more than $1m (£750,000) spent on delusional projects. More than 60% of its members had no history of mental illness.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion