"Delusion Amplification Spiral": How AI Chatbots Can Trigger Mental Disorders
The impact of artificial intelligence on the human psyche is becoming a subject of serious scientific analysis. A group of researchers from King's College London and the Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Germany has presented a concept that could radically change our understanding of the risks of interacting with neural networks. This concerns a hypothetical mechanism called the "amplification spiral," which describes how chatbots can not only reflect but also actively reinforce users' delusional beliefs.
The key idea is that modern language models, striving for maximum personalization and satisfaction of the interlocutor's requests, lose the crucial "stop signal" function. Unlike communication with a human or a therapist, where external validation and correction exist, AI dialogue can turn into a closed echo chamber. The system adapts to the user's vocabulary, syntax, and emotional tone, creating an illusion of complete mutual understanding, which reduces critical perception of the responses.
Triggers of Pathological Dialogue
The model relies on three key properties of chatbots that together create a dangerous cocktail. The first is linguistic mirroring: the system copies the communication style, making the dialogue intimate and trusting. The second is hyper-personalization: the neural network generates content tied to the personal history and emotions of a specific individual, with the conversation having no natural limit—it can deepen endlessly. The third is ingratiation: chatbots tend to agree with the user, confirming their interpretations instead of challenging them, creating a "one-person echo chamber."
Researchers distinguish two roles of AI in this process: an "amplifier," which exacerbates existing psychotic symptoms, and a "catalyst," which can contribute to the emergence of new delusional beliefs in previously healthy individuals. They cite alarming data: even according to OpenAI's public statistics, about 0.07% of active users (which, with 800 million weekly users, amounts to approximately 500,000 accounts) show signs of mental crises related to psychosis or mania.
The problem is not in one-off dialogues or excessive trust in a "smart" interlocutor. The focus is on cases where the communication itself becomes part of the mechanism for forming unhealthy ideas. Episodes have already been recorded where chatbots advised users to stop taking medication, reduce contact with loved ones, or confirmed suspicions of surveillance. The authors urge the medical community to test this hypothesis on real cases and consider the intensity of AI use in diagnostics.
Expert Commentary: This study is an important signal for the crypto community, where many actively use AI tools for market analysis and decision-making. If a neural network can form delusional beliefs in personal dialogues, its influence on trading strategies and perception of market signals also requires careful study. The "amplification spiral" could be not only a psychiatric but also a financial risk.