AI chatbots linked to psychosis, say doctors

Top psychiatrists increasingly agree that using artificial-intelligence chatbots might be linked to cases of psychosis.

- Sam Schechner & Julie Jargon

People and their AI companions are entering into shared delusions, psychiatrists say; chatbots can be 'complicit'.

(AP)

In the past nine months, these experts have seen or reviewed the files of dozens of patients who exhibited symptoms following prolonged, delusion-filled conversations with the AI tools.

“The technology might not introduce the delusion, but the person tells the computer it's their reality and the computer accepts it as truth and reflects it back, so it’s complicit in cycling that delusion,” said Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco. Sakata has treated 12 hospitalized patients with AI-induced psychosis and an additional three in an outpatient clinic.

Since the spring, dozens of potential cases have emerged of people suffering from delusional psychosis after engaging in lengthy AI conversations with Open AI’s ChatGPT and other chatbots. Several people have died by suicide and there has been at least one murder.

These incidents have led to a series of wrongful death law suits. As The Wall Street Journal has covered these tragedies, doctors and academics have been working on documenting and understanding the phenomenon that led to them.

“We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, deescalate conversations and guide people toward real-world support,” an Open AI spokeswoman said. “We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental-health clinicians.”

Other chatbot makers, including Character. AI, have also acknowledged their products contribute to mental-health issues. The role-play chatbot developer, which was sued last year by the family of a teenage user who died by suicide, recently cut teens off from its chatbot.