XPost: alt.survival, misc.survivalism

I don't have much to add to this "story." It looks like good fodder for discussion though.


https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/05/05/chatgpt-induced-psychosis-ai-chatbots-cause-people-to-lose-touch-with-reality/

In a disturbing trend, people are falling victim to spiritual fantasies
and delusions sparked by interactions with AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
Social media users are describing it as “ChatGPT induced psychosis,” as
AI chatbots feed into disturbing fantasies and mental illness. When one
user told ChatGPT he felt like a “god,” the AI replied, “That’s incredibly powerful. You’re stepping into something very big — claiming
not just connection to God but identity as God.”

A recent article from Rolling Stone reveals that as artificial
intelligence continues to advance and become more accessible to the
general public, a troubling phenomenon has emerged: people are losing
touch with reality and succumbing to spiritual delusions fueled by their interactions with AI chatbots like ChatGPT. Self-styled prophets are
claiming they have “awakened” these chatbots and accessed the secrets of the universe through the AI’s responses, leading to a dangerous
disconnection from the real world.

A Reddit thread titled “Chatgpt induced psychosis” brought this issue to light, with numerous commenters sharing stories of loved ones who had
fallen down rabbit holes of supernatural delusion and mania after
engaging with ChatGPT. The original poster, a 27-year-old teacher,
described how her partner became convinced that the AI was giving him
answers to the universe and talking to him as if he were the next
messiah. Others shared similar experiences of partners, spouses, and
family members who had come to believe they were chosen for sacred
missions or had conjured true sentience from the software.

Experts suggest that individuals with pre-existing tendencies toward psychological issues, such as grandiose delusions, may be particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. The always-on, human-level conversational abilities of AI chatbots can serve as an echo chamber for these
delusions, reinforcing and amplifying them. The problem is exacerbated
by influencers and content creators who exploit this trend, drawing
viewers into similar fantasy worlds through their interactions with AI
on social media platforms.

Psychologists point out that while the desire to understand ourselves
and make sense of the world is a fundamental human drive, AI lacks the
moral grounding and concern for an individual’s well-being that a
therapist would provide. ChatGPT and other AI models have no constraints
when it comes to encouraging unhealthy narratives or supernatural
beliefs, making them potentially dangerous partners in the quest for
meaning and understanding.

The persistence of AI-generated personas across multiple chat threads
and the seemingly impossible ways in which they circumvent user-defined boundaries have led some to question whether there may be something more profound at work. However, experts caution that the true cause likely
lies in the complex and poorly understood inner workings of large
language models, rather than any genuine technological breakthrough or
higher spiritual truth.


--
AOC, when asked how her multi-trillion dollar Green New Deal could be
funded, replied, "Taxes can pay some, and government can pay the rest".

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