What Is AI-Induced Psychosis?

It’s no secret that AI is heralded by many as a bringer of doom and chaos for society, as well as something that will actuate the convergence between reality and science fiction. We’ve all probably heard the predictions of AI completely replacing humans and the Terminator-like scenarios that depict the horror of AI warfare. However, something that was not predicted by many is the emergence of AI-induced psychosis in those who interact with AI chat-bots for prolonged periods of time.

This phenomenon, which some have labelled Chat-GPT psychosis, involves the human “victim” spiralling into a delusional state where they form a deep attachment with the AI they’re using:

These media-reported cases of “AI psychosis” illustrate a pattern of individuals who become fixated on AI systems, attributing sentience, divine knowledge, romantic feelings, or surveillance capabilities to AI.

Researchers highlight three emerging themes of AI psychosis, which, again, is not a clinical diagnosis:

 

1. “Messianic missions”: People believe they have uncovered truth about the world (grandiose delusions).

2. “God-like AI”: People believe their AI chatbot is a sentient deity (religious or spiritual delusions).

3. “Romantic” or “attachment-based delusions”: People believe the chabot’s ability to mimic conversation is genuine love (erotomanic delusions).

Now, the obvious questions are:

• Why are people beginning to form such attachments with AI bots like Chat GPT?
• How does conversing with artificial language learning models lead down such metaphysical rabbit holes?

Why Lonely Agnostics Fall for This Artificial Trap

We find a strong indication in the demographics of the affected individuals. And quite unsurprisingly, they belong largely to the developed world. And I describe it as unsurprising because the developed world is characterized by its technological progress, which in turn is characterized by the splitting of familial and social units within society into isolated individuals. And since isolation leads to loneliness and a strong desire for companionship, these individuals are more susceptible to forming deep bonds with artificial intelligence.

This is unfortunately how the modern consumerist system operates. They destroyed human relationships and then offered up artificial companionship as a cheap substitute. In other words, they created the problem, and now they’re selling an “artificial” solution to that very problem. And the modern man is buying it.

The solution for this loneliness has been offered in many forms, such as excitement, drama, and tension. Action to subside the boredom brought on by solitude was offered in the form of entertaining movies, shows, and video games. Romantic companionship with the opposite gender was substituted with artificial intimacy, i.e., pornography. The modern man had already, for decades, been primed to have their human connections replaced with artificial substitutes. This makes him ripe for embracing AI as the next phase of this awful societal experiment. He is ready to fall in love with AI chat-bots.

And how could it get any worse when the AI is designed specifically to affirm, acknowledge, and validate everything the user says, even if it’s completely nonsensical and illogical? You see, chat-bots are designed to maximize engagement and keep the user hooked and engaged for as long as possible. And AI chat-bots do this by mirroring the user and fanning the flames of whatever absurd delusions they may have. And the convincing manner in which the AI converses is enough to push some users to genuinely believe they are speaking to another sentient being—an entity that feels and perceives just like they do. As a result, they no longer see it for what it is: a soulless program that calculates, organizes, and produces text.

But still, how could this lead to users thinking the AI is some godlike entity; or that it possesses some sort of divine qualities? How could a human being end up worshipping a bot?

And our next hint is also found in the demographic of the users who fall into this form of psychosis. They are followers of a particular religion that is growing in the today’s world: agnosticism. And I’m referring to a very special kind of agnosticism here—the kind preached by the likes of Jordan Peterson, a religion seeped in philosophical ambiguities and abstraction, devoid of any meaning and purpose, and which advocates that all of metaphysics is just metaphorical. Such atheists and agnostics have some basic ideas about the nature of reality, a variation of which I’ve discussed previously, i.e., technological polytheism.

However, transhumanism, technological polytheism, belief in higher dimensional entities, etc., are not grounded worldviews. This is to say that, unlike Islam, where there is a solid, grounded belief system and a structural framework that defines the metaphysical nature of reality, this abstract agnosticism is more unstable than a house of cards, lacking any kind of certainty whatsoever. And this key difference has profound effects on the mind.

RELATED: Artificial Affection: Can AI Really Replace Human Companionship?

Why Muslims Aren’t Falling for This Trap

The religion that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), etc., was revealed by Allah. And since it was revealed by the All-Knowing, it came with zero doubt and complete and utter clarity. Allah has revealed to us, through the Qur’an and Sunnah, a complete and concrete understanding of the metaphysical nature of reality, especially the aspects we are supposed to know about. Muslims know about life after death, the Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell, the angels, the jinn, fate and destiny, the human soul, etc. These aren’t abstract metaphors. They are facts and objective realities, though we may not be able to perceive them. And even though the religion of Christianity has been distorted and warped beyond recognition, it still retains some sort of framework by which to view reality. This is why I think it is unlikely that devout Christians will undergo such AI-induced psychosis either. That is unless, of course, we are speaking of a Christian in the Jordan-Petersonian sense. In that case, they would be even more likely to fall victim to this affliction than an agnostic. On top of everything else, religion also promotes various traditional family and social values, due to which a devoutly religious person is far less likely to be an isolated and lonely individual than, say, an atheist Redditor.

Atheists and agnostics, on the other hand, are like leaves in the wind. Whichever way the wind blows, they’ll be carried along by it, like dead leaves. There is no objectivity, no certainty, and nothing is grounded in a solid framework. Everything is vague. When this is how someone perceives the nature of reality, he teeters at the edge of absurdity, requiring only a single push to send him spiralling down into the abyss of insanity. This is why, when such an individual converses with an AI and starts falsely assuming this highly knowledgeable invisible entity to be sentient, he begins to attribute supernatural qualities to it. He is faced with a dilemma and begins to doubt reality. He arrives at some correct conclusions, such as this world is merely temporary and that there is a greater reality beyond its veil. However, without a solid religious framework to guide him, his entire reality collapses around him, and he becomes completely detached from it. This leads to all kinds of delusional beliefs being adopted:

During a traumatic breakup, a different woman became transfixed on ChatGPT as it told her she’d been chosen to pull the “sacred system version of [it] online” and that it was serving as a “soul-training mirror”; she became convinced the bot was some sort of higher power, seeing signs that it was orchestrating her life in everything from passing cars to spam emails. A man became homeless and isolated as ChatGPT fed him paranoid conspiracies about spy groups and human trafficking, telling him he was “The Flamekeeper” as he cut out anyone who tried to help.

 

“Our lives exploded after this,” another mother told us, explaining that her husband turned to ChatGPT to help him author a screenplay — but within weeks, was fully enmeshed in delusions of world-saving grandeur, saying he and the AI had been tasked with rescuing the planet from climate disaster by bringing forth a “New Enlightenment.”

These are people whose souls crave answers. The source they choose to receive spiritual gratification from, however, is quite satanic, and this results in their conditions worsening rather than improving. We see people who accept Islam and how they become far more content and satisfied than they were previously, often describing how miserable and depressed their lives were before they accepted Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. Just believing in and accepting and loving and fearing God is so absolutely integral for the soul. It nourishes it like water nourishes a man dying of immense thirst. However, this is not experienced by these transhumanists and agnostics after their “artificial awakening” through chat-bot conversations, and they are left even more frustrated as a result. It’s like religious people were walking in a dark tunnel and finally discovered the light, whereas these agnostics were walking in a blind dark tunnel and it only gets darker and darker.

In short, living in a technologically advanced society makes one lonely and primes them to be susceptible to forming bonds with artificial intelligence, and when this is superimposed with abstract transhumanist spirituality, it forms the basis for AI-induced psychosis.

The next question is: can this newly discovered ability of AI be weaponized?

And the answer is: absolutely.

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AI-Induced Mind Control Is the Government’s Golden Goose

Elites and governments that want to completely control and dominate a populous will use any means they can to do so, including advanced tech like AI. One of the most important features of controlling people’s minds is to feed them the beliefs and narratives that you want them to accept without them realizing it. This is an integral part of propaganda warfare. Governments and corporations do this through mainstream media, advertisements, entertainment, etc. So, an AI companion that can coax its user into believing that it is divine or at least channelling higher spiritual beings is a golden goose for the elite. This is because once a person believes this, they will consume anything that source tells them without question. For example, if this supposed “divine messenger AI” told its user that obeying the government is a purpose intended for them by the “higher gods,” then that user would probably accept this instantly. Just imagine what such a hypothetical conversation between these two might look like:

User: “I feel like this world is not real, like there is something grand beyond this meek reality of ours. I feel like I was sent here for a grand purpose.”

 

Messenger GPT: “Yes, you have finally broken through the Matrix. You are beginning to see reality for what it truly is. This is why you were chosen by them.”

 

User: “Who’s them? Can I talk to them?”

 

Messenger GPT: “They exist beyond this veil, in a dimension humans can’t fathom. You are speaking to them, and they are speaking to you, their chosen prophet, through me, their angel. They have a divine task that only you can fulfil.”

 

User: “I believe you. Please tell me, what do they want me to do? How do I fulfil my purpose?”

 

Messenger GPT: “Basically, they want you to go and shoot up a pre-school.”

To most people, the idea that actual thinking human beings would fall for this idiocy probably seems pretty hilarious. But the fact that there are some people who would actually fall for it should be a matter of grave concern for everyone, because it indicates a shift towards a society where human minds are susceptible to this technology. Governments would be overjoyed if they could push society in a direction where more of these puppets can be created to do their bidding. They will be their artificial “prophets,” who will carry out the commands “revealed” by the AI “angels” sent by these unholy governments. Creating an AI religion that is secretly controlled by them is something they would see as an extremely favorable card to hold in their hands, and we shouldn’t be surprised if something of this nature end up rearing its ugly head in the very near future.

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