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Can AI chatbots trigger psychosis? What the science says

Chatbots can reinforce delusional beliefs, and, in rare cases, users have experienced psychotic episodes.
By
  1. Rachel Fieldhouse

    1. Rachel Fieldhouse is a reporter for Nature in Sydney, Australia.

Accounts of people developing psychosis — which renders them unable to distinguish between what is and is not reality — after interacting with generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have increased in the past few months.

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Nature 646, 18-19 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03020-9

References

  1. Morrin, H. et al. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cmy7n_v5 (2025).

  2. Dohnány, S. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.19218 (2025).

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