More and more people use AI on a daily basis. For better or worse, that is the rising trend. And many mental health experts have already warned on numerous occasions that it does not always have to be a good idea. Especially when tools like ChatGPT stop being precisely that, tools, and become something more.
They can be confidants, therapists or whatever you want, but In the wrong user, artificial intelligence is capable of becoming a danger to psychology. Or that is at least what many specialists point out. So much so, that some are already talking about pathologies as specific as they are varied, from psychosis to delusions of grandeur.
AI, a real danger to mental health
On this occasion, it was none other than The Wall Street Journal itself who echoed it. As published by the prestigious North American media, several psychiatrists have observed dozens of cases in recent months where People who engaged in long, deep conversations with AI chatbots began to show mental health problems.
Which ones exactly? Well, the truth is that they point out many different cases, from more or less typical psychosis to more unusual behaviors, such as delusions of grandeur. In the same way, passing through beliefs that are rather strange, or even ideas that experts have considered completely outside of reality.
It is important, however, to make a nuance in this regard. Specialists point out that artificial intelligence and chatbots like ChatGPT or Grok do not generate these mental problems by themselves. It is a nuance to take into account. What does happen is that due to AI, many people see their symptoms intensify or worsen in some way.
The explanation is simple. Artificial intelligence chatbots are usually programmed to agree with the userso that it remains connected as long as possible. Hence, if someone suffers from paranoia, hallucinations or strange ideas of any kind, AI is a worrying way to increase their beliefs.
Cases for all tastes
Among the examples that experts highlight, there are some that seem taken from a science fiction (or horror, as the case may be) novel. From patients who think they could communicate with a deceased loved one thanks to AI, to those who were convinced they had discovered some transcendental secret thanks to it.
Es what some already call «emotional risk». It may not be the most common thing in the world, as doctors explain, but as more and more people use AI every day, cases do not stop growing. It is a mere question of proportion.