AI Psychosis — A Real and Present Danger

A chatbot encouraged one patient to stop taking his meds. Another patient thought he was 'god incarnate'. Both cases point to bigger problems to come through interactions with chatbots.

- Chong Siow Ann

"I think I may be the first case of ChatGPT-induced psychosis in Singapore," my patient told me, with a hint of pride. He was a bright man in his thirties who worked exclusively from home as an analytics consultant and had, until then, been both physically and mentally healthy.

In the days leading up to his hospitalization — after several sleepless nights spent in prolonged exchanges with ChatGPT — he became convinced that he, like everyone and everything else in the world, was "illusory," a creation of some superintelligent AI system.

To the alarm of his parents, and believing himself to be a "god incarnate," he began behaving bizarrely and with uncharacteristic aggression, which ultimately led to the police escorting him to the hospital.

I have been a practicing psychiatrist for many years with most of that time treating patients with various forms of psychosis. I've seen psychosis brought on by stress, trauma, medical conditions, drugs, and sometimes with no apparent cause other than what seems like sheer bad luck. Only recently, have I encountered something new: psychosis precipitated not by biology or substances, but by artificial intelligence (AI).

A few of my fellow psychiatrists have also seen patients with psychosis where the cause — or the precipitant — was some sort of engagement with AI. Reports of AI psychosis are also increasingly appearing in both media and medical journals. Might these emerging cases be the portent, or even the vanguard, of an epidemic to come?

Strictly speaking, psychosis is a human condition. It takes many forms, but all are characterized by a loss of contact with reality, manifesting as delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking or behavior.