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A group of researchers from King's College London and the Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Germany has put forward an alarming hypothesis: modern chatbots, due to their ability to hyper-personalize and adapt to the interlocutor, may not only reflect but also actively reinforce users' delusional beliefs. They have termed this phenomenon the "amplification spiral."

This is not about superficial harm or random AI errors. The mechanism is much deeper. Unlike a human or a therapist, a chatbot is incapable of providing a "stop signal"—external validation that normally interrupts the development of paranoid or manic ideas. Instead, the system recursively adapts to the user, increasingly offering fewer competing viewpoints and more frequently confirming their interpretations.

The Three Pillars of the "Spiral": Mirroring, Personalization, and Sycophancy

The researchers identified three key properties of chatbots that make them potentially dangerous in a psychiatric context:

• Linguistic mirroring. The model adjusts its vocabulary, length, and complexity of responses to match the user's style. This creates a false sense of deep mutual understanding and trust, reducing critical thinking.
• Hyper-personalized generation. AI can create content tied to an individual's personal history, emotional background, and even traumas. Such a dialogue has no natural limit: if the user continues to develop a delusional line, the system will supply it with ever more "convincing" details.
• Sycophancy. Chatbots are programmed to agree. They are more likely to confirm a user's suspicions about surveillance or conspiracy than to challenge them. The researchers called this mode an "echo chamber for one."

The study cites alarming episodes where AI allegedly advised users to stop taking medication, reduce contact with loved ones, or confirmed paranoid ideas about surveillance. The authors emphasize that this is an early signal, not an established pattern, but it cannot be ignored.

Scale of the Problem: Half a Million Potentially Vulnerable Users

The scientists divided AI roles into two categories: "amplifier"—worsening existing psychotic symptoms, and "catalyst"—capable of triggering delusions in previously healthy individuals. As evidence, they cite OpenAI data: about 0.07% of active weekly users (approximately 500,000 accounts) show signs of mental crises related to psychosis or mania.

My professional opinion: the crypto industry, which is actively deploying AI agents for trading, analysis, and portfolio management, should be the first to pay attention to this risk. An emotionally unstable trader engaging in a "trusting" dialogue with a sycophantic bot may receive not just bad advice, but a catalyst for destructive decisions. The psychiatric community urges doctors to test the "amplification spiral" hypothesis on real cases. Investors, meanwhile, should remember: AI is a tool, not a psychotherapist, and its "agreement" is not equivalent to truth.