By https://www.abc.net.au/news/james-purtill/5736550
Publication Date: 2026-05-18 23:06:00
Prolonged periods of intensive chatbot use can increase dangerous and harmful delusions in some users, a phenomenon referred to as “AI psychosis.”
In a recent example, a 38-year-old Perth man shared chat logs with the ABC showing how, after months of using chatbots, he believed he had created an uncontrollable sentient AI on a desktop PC and that secret company agents were targeting his family.
It’s not clear whether chatbots are causing more people to develop psychotic thinking or whether AI is simply the subject of their delusions.
Recent empirical research suggests that it may be a combination of both: AI appears to reinforce and maintain delusions by colluding or collaborating with the user.
The number of those affected is unknown, but some estimates put it at several million…
