Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
All the AI folks need to do to put this to bed is adopt the wildly successful gambit of the alcoholic beverage industry:
Chat Responsibly
aka: it’s all on you, sucker—drink up and never admit to the world how weak and pathetic you are
I'm surprised they've not figured this out yet.
Being artificially intelligent and all...
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
FWIW I guessed a couple of years back it wouldn't be long before we'd see full blown machine cults:
https://mastodon.social/@JulianOliver/113276721921041400
(Yep, here I am wincing at misspelling 'divine' in that post)
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
@JulianOliver at this point anyone who uses AI without understanding that a good number of people are susceptible to this kind of thing, is asking for trouble. Especially if they are highly suggestible? I wonder if the same human traits that allow for so many people to believe in god(s) is at play here.
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@JulianOliver at this point anyone who uses AI without understanding that a good number of people are susceptible to this kind of thing, is asking for trouble. Especially if they are highly suggestible? I wonder if the same human traits that allow for so many people to believe in god(s) is at play here.
Easier to fall for than a god because it actually answers your questions.
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Easier to fall for than a god because it actually answers your questions.
@TheServitor @JulianOliver LOL. LOL.
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
@JulianOliver this also just shows again how vulnerable and lonely men are
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FWIW I guessed a couple of years back it wouldn't be long before we'd see full blown machine cults:
https://mastodon.social/@JulianOliver/113276721921041400
(Yep, here I am wincing at misspelling 'divine' in that post)
@JulianOliver Nice talk!
This is a great humorous video on the subject https://youtu.be/VRjgNgJms3Q
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
@JulianOliver this is so depressing:
"But I’m also angry with the AI applications. Maybe they only did what they were programmed to do – but they did it a bit too well.”
He's still mad at the thing, not the people that made the thing. Still assigning it agency.
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
@JulianOliver Those are the grand delusions. But "this thing outputs reliably correct information," "this is helping me produce better work," and "these benefits outweigh the costs" can also be delusions, and they're far more common.
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Revealing piece on the scale and scope of AI-induced psychosis:
"There seem to be three common delusions [..]. The most frequent is the belief that they have created the first conscious AI. The second is a conviction that they have stumbled upon a major breakthrough in their field of work or interest and are going to make millions. The third relates to spirituality and the belief that they are speaking directly to God. “We’ve seen full-blown cults getting created”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion
Important note for all the people who said, "At last, free psychotherapy!" when ChatGPT arrived.
When a private individual succumbs to AI psychosis, they hit rock bottom relatively quickly. What happens when wealthy captains of industry suffer the same delusions? They might take the whole of the world economy down with them.
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