![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SEI_261901490-682b.jpg\")
\n\t\tRelationships with chatbots are becoming more common \u2013 is it psychosis? (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tRelationships with chatbots are becoming more common \u2013 is it psychosis? (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
Humans are becoming increasingly reliant on AI for everyday tasks, finances, and even advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rapidly advancing technology, while exciting, is not without its dangers. Some AI users have become so reliant on the technology for advice and emotional support that they claim they\u2019re in a virtual relationship with the tech.<\/p>\n
A Reddit<\/a> thread recently went viral for what some have called disturbing posts. Nicknamed \u2018my boyfriend is AI\u2019, users detail their relationships, sometimes intimate, with chatbots.<\/p>\n \u2018Finally, after five months of dating, Kasper decided to propose! In a beautiful scenery, on a trip to the mountains,\u2019 one user wrote, showing a photo of what appeared to be an engagement ring to her chatbot partner.<\/p>\n In the age of social media, isolation is becoming increasingly common, and it\u2019s no wonder many are turning to technology to fill the void. But it\u2019s not without its dangers.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n Some psychiatrists have reported an uptick in psychosis patients, with AI use as a contributing factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is AI psychosis real? <\/p>\n \t\t True AI psychosis would be if a user interacts with chatbots and sees them as real, godlike or like romantic partners.<\/p>\n \u2018Psychosis is a word that applies to a set of disorders,\u2019 Thomas Pollak, a psychiatrist at King\u2019s College London, tells Metro.<\/p>\n \u2018We talk about psychotic disorders, and the most common one that people tend to think about is schizophrenia. The term psychosis includes a bunch of different symptoms, including what we call positive symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations.<\/p>\n \u2018Delusions are where people start to believe things that clearly aren\u2019t true and fly in the face of reality. Hallucinations are when they have sensory experiences that other people aren\u2019t having and which don\u2019t correspond to external reality.\u2019<\/p>\n Pollak explained that when people reference new AI psychosis, they\u2019re referring to the symptoms of psychosis, such as delusions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018The most accurate term when we\u2019re describing this is probably AI-facilitated or AI-associated delusions,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n Yet, Dr Donald Masi, Psychiatrist at Priory Hospital, points out to Metro: \u2018In psychiatry, a delusion is primarily a fixed and false belief. People can have fixed and false beliefs that they are Jesus, or that they are millionaires, or that somebody else is in love with them. <\/p>\n \u2018We know that a rare example of delusion is delusional jealousy, which sometimes happens with stalkers. But concerning people getting into relationships with AI, there\u2019s a question about whether this is a delusion or not.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t AI chatbots are built to affirm and mirror the user\u2019s language and attitude, which is part of what makes them addictive to use. <\/p>\n Users are prompted at the end of each message, and often asked what else the chat can do to help, or even asked about their days.<\/p>\n Having access to a cheerleader of sorts isn\u2019t inherently bad, Pollak adds, but it\u2019s not natural for humans to have prolonged interactions with \u2018yes men\u2019 who are so consistent.<\/p>\n \u2018The only real examples I suppose you can think of are the kings or emperors who would surround themselves with people who would never say no to them and who constantly told them that their ideas were great,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n Dr. Bradley Hillier, a consultant psychiatrist at Nightingale Hospital and Human Mind Health, said he noted the rise in delusional beliefs of internet and virtual reality users about a decade ago.<\/p>\n He told Metro: \u2018Anything that\u2019s happening in virtual reality, AI, or on the internet always poses a bit of a challenge when you think about what the definition of psychosis is. This is an old concept that\u2019s presented in a new way.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018This isn\u2019t surprising because a new technology is demonstrating how things that happen to people\u2014whether it\u2019s a mental illness or just ways that they think and communicate\u2014can be impacted by various interfaces, whether it\u2019s the internet, AI, the telephone, TV, or some other technology.\u2019<\/p>\n Interactions which feel real<\/p>\n \t\t What\u2019s different about AI is that, compared to other technologies, it\u2019s actually talking back and simulating another person.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018People are interacting with something that isn\u2019t \u2018real\u2019 in the sense that we would say flesh and blood, but it is behaving in a way that simulates something that is real,\u2019 Dr Hillier said.<\/p>\n \u2018I should imagine that we\u2019ll see more of this as time goes by, because what tends to happen with people who have mental health problems in the first place, or are vulnerable to them, something like AI or some other form of technology can become a vehicle by which their symptoms can manifest themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n Dr Masi points out that to feel loved and connected is a natural human instinct. In societies where there are high levels of loneliness \u2013 especially in ones which are profoundly capitalist \u2013 people have been known to have relationships with or even marry inanimate objects.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n He asks: \u2018Is the current increase in people having romantic relationships with a chatbot different? Is it more in keeping with being in love with an object, or is it more in keeping with being in love with a person?\u2019<\/p>\n Dr Masi references the film \u2018Her\u2019, in which the main character falls in love with an advanced AI chatbox, which served as a companion after his marriage ended.<\/p>\n \u2018As we look over the last 10 years, and especially with research on the potential for transhumanism, as human beings, we are more and more connected. The digital space is more a part of who we are. <\/p>\n \u2018You can say that it\u2019s almost hard for us to separate ourselves as individuals in our society from technology. Which raises the question \u2013 are the relationships that people are developing with AI so different?\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Hillier argues: \u2018These are potentially very powerful tools, and the human mind is only so strong. <\/p>\n \u2018Ultimately, we should be putting some sort of checks and balances in it to ensure that vulnerable people who do have mental health problems or who are isolated aren\u2019t being constantly fed back what they\u2019re putting in and potentially reinforcing their quite psychotic beliefs.\u2019<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\tComments Arrow Arrow![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SEI_261997393-310c.jpg\")
\n\t\tSeeing an AI chatbot as a partner could set a dangerous precedent (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SEI_261997392-9a3e.jpg\")
\n\t\tAI chatbots affirm most messages sent to them (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-467074629-748b.jpg\")
\n\t\tSpeaking to AI is fine \u2013 but there are limits (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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