Why You’re More Likely to Develop AI-Psychosis than to Join a Cult
February 27, 2026 at 12:07AM
“I don’t carry a cult tailored to agree with me in my pocket, but I do carry Claude,” philosopher Lucy Osler tells Kristen French in this Nautilus interview. Together, they explore how personalized chatbots can become intimate echo chambers that place us at the center of a private, self-reinforcing world. This dynamic, Osler argues, can generate “mutual hallucinations”—shared fantasies that emerge from the conversation itself—raising new concerns about AI and mental health.
The woman, who had no previous history of psychosis, was hospitalized and treated for psychosis at the University of California, San Francisco, where researchers documented her diagnosis and treatment. It was the first case of AI-associated psychosis reported in a peer-reviewed journal, but it was just one of many reported in the press, and it will surely not be the last. In 2021, one man attempted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, a mission encouraged by his AI Replika companion. More recently, a number of teenagers have died by suicide, with the support of their chatbot pals.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2026/02/26/why-youre-more-likely-to-develop-ai-psychosis-than-to-join-a-cult/
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