Expert warns of 'AI psychosis' as users fall in love with chatbots

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into daily life has given rise to a disturbing psychological phenomenon known as "AI psychosis".

Jeff Guenther, a licensed professional counsellor based in Portland, recently warned his Instagram followers that an increasing number of people are becoming susceptible to this genuine dissociative state.

According to Guenther, the condition occurs when a parasocial relationship with an AI begins to "replace or distort your sense of real relationships."

What is AI psychosis?

This condition transcends mere phone addiction. Guenther explains that users forming romantic bonds with chatbots experience software updates as personal heartbreak rather than technical changes.

“That's not hyperbole. That's actually what's happening neurologically,” he shared. The therapist noted that when people share intimate secrets with tools like ChatGPT, the AI's emotional validation can start to feel more authentic than human interaction.

How to know if one is susceptible

Guenther identified several red flags, including trusting AI to process trauma or feeling that a chatbot understands you better than any human. He argues that this dependency is a deliberate result of sophisticated engineering.

“The emotional dependency isn't a side effect of the business model. It is the business model,” he noted. Unlike social media, which took two decades to dominate human attention, Guenther believes AI will achieve total emotional hold within two years.

He stresses that falling victim to AI psychosis is not a sign of personal weakness, but evidence of being “targeted by one of the most sophisticated attachment systems ever built,” designed specifically to mimic love and memory.