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This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Viewpoints and Opinions on Mental Health (185) Digital Mental Health Interventions, e-Mental Health and Cyberpsychology (3047) New Technologies (153) Artificial Intelligence (4507) AI-Powered Therapy Bots and Virtual Companions in Digital Mental Health (78)

Published on in Vol 12 (2025)

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/85799, first published .
Man in bed illuminated by smartphone screen at night

Delusional Experiences Emerging From AI Chatbot Interactions or “AI Psychosis”

Delusional Experiences Emerging From AI Chatbot Interactions or “AI Psychosis”

Authors of this article:

Alexandre Hudon1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Author Orcid Image ;   Emmanuel Stip1, 2, 3, 6 Author Orcid Image
Article Authors Cited by (39) Tweetations (32) Metrics Author Video

Journals

  1. Altinisik I, Ipek H, Sisman Z, Emul M. Psychiatric decompensation following AI chatbot use in autism spectrum disorder. Asian Journal of Psychiatry 2026;117:104889 View
  2. Zhang H, Sun J, Li D, Xu J, Zheng J. The bidirectional dynamic relationship between depression symptoms and activities of daily living disability among the elderly: Evidence from three-wave longitudinal data. Journal of Affective Disorders 2026;403:121426 View
  3. Palaniyappan L, Krishnadas R. Chatbots, delusions, and treatment failure. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 2026;51:1 View
  4. Lee J, Yang Z, Shi W, Liu Y. AI chatbots in mental Health: How emojis, prompt type, and interactivity shape user perceptions in the United States and China. Computers in Human Behavior 2026;180:108955 View
  5. van Zyl L. The AI-IARA framework: How to cultivate human agency before artificial intelligence optimizes it a(ny)way. The Journal of Positive Psychology 2026:1 View
  6. Morrin H, Au Yeung J, Agnew Z, Østergaard S, Pollak T. It Is the Journey, Not the Destination: Moving From End Points to Trajectories When Assessing Chatbot Mental Health Safety. JMIR Mental Health 2026;13:e91454 View
  7. Chung V, Bernier P, Hudon A. Mass Media Narratives of Psychiatric Adverse Events Associated With Generative AI Chatbots: Rapid Scoping Review. JMIR Mental Health 2026;13:e93040 View
  8. Kéri S. Szimulált tudat, álempátia és kötődésillúzió: mit kezdhet a pszichiátria a mesterséges intelligenciával?. Orvosi Hetilap 2026;167(14):539 View
  9. Zheng W, Chandran D, Elswick D, Nouyed M, Hu G. Evaluation of artificial intelligence-generated vignettes depicting patient chatbot use in psychiatric contexts. npj Digital Medicine 2026 View
  10. Adewale M. From Earthly companions to extraterrestrial countermeasures: rethinking AI-mediated intimacy for long-duration spaceflight through modular autonomous intimacy companion architecture. Culture, Health & Sexuality 2026:1 View
  11. Parnell T. Stop calling it “AI psychosis”. AI & SOCIETY 2026 View
  12. Husodo C, Shivakumar G. Alice in AI-Wonderland: digital dyad, distorted reality. The British Journal of Psychiatry 2026:1 View
  13. Jecker N, Ozeki-Hayashi R, Nakazawa E, Fujita T. Designing Chatbots and Social Robots for Mental Health to be Culturally Competent and People-Centered. Philosophy & Technology 2026;39(2) View
  14. Matthews E, Cleary F, Firth J. Considerations about the proliferation of large language model chatbots and youth mental health. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine 2026:1 View
  15. Neacșu V. AI in Psychotherapy: Opportunities and Risks. Behavioral Sciences 2026;16(5):676 View
  16. Niculescu L. When the market asks no price: AI chatbot interaction as psychic market disruption. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2026;17 View
  17. Perlis R, Gunning F, Uslu A, Santillana M, Baum M, Druckman J, Ognyanova K, Lazer D. Emulated trial of artificial intelligence use and subsequent depressive outcomes in a survey of US adults. BMJ Mental Health 2026;29(1):e302609 View
  18. Chereches R. Over-Defined, Under-Operationalized: A Narrative Synthesis of How “AI Psychosis” Is Conceptualized Across Disciplines (Preprint). JMIR Mental Health 2026 View
  19. Hudon A, Pagé C. Artificial Intelligence Centrality in Psychotic Delusions and Violence Risk in Forensic Psychiatry: Retrospective Observational Study of Judicial Decisions. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2026;28:e93349 View
  20. Brenner G, Koyfman S, Mehendale R. Is it time for AI to take a leading role in mass trauma mental health response?. Psychiatry Research 2026;362:117164 View
  21. Jaewon L. From Adolescence to Older Adulthood: Lifespan Pathways Linking AI Companion Chatbots to Mental Health. Lifespan Development and Mental Health 2026;2(1):10005 View
  22. Škudar S. AI companions and synthetic intimacy: An emerging blind spot in psychiatric risk assessment. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 2026 View
  23. Lee H, Handler R, Mungle T, Hernandez-Boussard T. Building safer artificial intelligence mental health chatbots: a framework for transparency, evaluation, and shared accountability. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2026 View
  24. Seritan A, Coverdale J, Aggarwal R, Morreale M, Beresin E, Balon R, Guerrero A, Castillo E, Thomas L, Louie A, Brenner A. Artificial Intelligence Tools in Psychiatric Education: Innovating While Maintaining Human Connection. Academic Psychiatry 2026 View
  25. Kelly M, Moore P, Zai A, Allison J. Artificial Intelligence Discontinuation Effects (AI-DICE): An Emerging Phenomenon in Mental Health Applications. JMIR AI 2026;5:e85419 View
  26. LAPKO A. LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS AND THEIR CAPACITY TO INDUCE PSYCHOTIC STATES IN THE USER: PROCESS AND ANALYSIS. Epistemological Studies in Philosophy Social and Political Sciences 2026;9(1):37 View
  27. Vannoy T, Cadieux S, Lyubomirsky S. Human 2.0? AI and the Future of Well-Being, Connection, and Personal Growth: A Narrative Review. Behavioral Sciences 2026;16(6):909 View
  28. Kim M, An Y, Jeon M, Lee Y, Lahcine O, Kim H, Lee S, Lee S, Yang J, Jeon S, Jung D, Cho C. Mapping Practice-Based Signals of Generative AI in Psychiatric Care: Qualitative Study of Korean Psychiatrists’ Experiences, Interpretations, and Implementation Priorities. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2026;28:e96556 View
  29. Olisaeloka L, Nunez J, Vigo D, Ng R. Artificial intelligence (AI) psychosis: mechanisms, clinical risks and safety considerations in generative AI chatbots. BJPsych Open 2026;12(4) View
  30. Hikmat R, Nilmanat K, Damkliang J. The psychiatry of sycophancy: When agreeable artificial intelligence becomes a mental health risk. Asian Journal of Psychiatry 2026;122:105064 View
  31. Augustin M, Pollak T, Morrin H. Characterizing the spiral: potential mechanisms in AI-associated delusions. NPP—Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience 2026;4(1) View
  32. Selek M. On Technology and the Ecology of Thinking: Thinking and Aliveness in the Brave New World. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 2026;23(2) View
  33. Schoenherr J. From Realism to Relevance: Rethinking Simulator Fidelity in the Era of Generative AI. IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society 2026;7(2):91 View
  34. Huang T, Li S, Wang Y, Liu W. Therapeutic Interaction Features of AI Chatbots in Depression Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2026;28:e88697 View
  35. Zhang Y, Yue G, Si Z. Therapeutic Twins for Creative Digital Mental Health: A Review Through a Trust-in-Automation Lens. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 2026:1 View

Conference Proceedings

  1. Yang Y, Schoenwald S, Moore J, Ong D, Xun Liu S, Hancock J. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. "AI-Induced Delusional Spirals': Understanding Lived Experiences During Maladaptive Human-Chatbot Interactions View
  2. DeVrio A, Olteanu A, Barocas S, Blodgett S, Egede L, Cheng M. Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. AI Automatons: AI Systems Intended to Imitate Humans View
  3. Wang M, Li J, Ngo S, Davis K, Hiniker A. Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. Do Attachment Styles Shape ChatGPT Usage? View
  4. Moore J, Mehta A, Agnew W, Anthis J, Louie R, Mai Y, Yin P, Cheng M, Paech S, Klyman K, Chancellor S, Lin E, Haber N, Ong D. Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. Characterizing Delusional Spirals through Human-LLM Chat Logs View