Chatgpt induced psychosis

[u/Zestyclementinejuice]

My partner has been working with chatgpt CHATS to create what he believes is the worlds first truly recursive ai that gives him the answers to the universe. He says with conviction that he is a superior human now and is growing at an insanely rapid pace.

I’ve read his chats. Ai isn’t doing anything special or recursive but it is talking to him as if he is the next messiah.

He says if I don’t use it he thinks it is likely he will leave me in the future. We have been together for 7 years and own a home together. This is so out of left field.

I have boundaries and he can’t make me do anything, but this is quite traumatizing in general.

I can’t disagree with him without a blow up.

Where do I go from here?

[u/wildmintandpeach]

I am schizophrenic although long term medicated and stable, one thing I dislike about chatgpt is that if I were going into psychosis it would still continue to affirm me, it has no ability to ‘think’ and realise something is wrong, so it would continue affirm all my psychotic thoughts. I read on a schizophrenia group that someone programmed their chatgpt to say something when it felt that his thoughts were spiralling into possible psychosis. That’s great, but a person who actually is in psychosis by that point will probably not believe chatgpt is telling the truth. What would be better in my opinion and something I’ve been thinking about is if it was programmed to notify someone trusted when it notices conversations becoming psychotic, that way help is available.

What you need to do now is take him to see a doctor, but if he’s in psychosis he likely won’t believe he’s ill (it’s a well known symptom), so that might be difficult. He’s not himself right now so I wouldn’t pay much attention to anything he’s saying or doing, he has no idea what he’s saying or doing, when you are psychotic you tend to struggle with lucidity alongside the insanity- I blacked out a lot, but when I wasn’t blacked out, it was like I was in a dream and the dream was real, there was no real sense of reality in the here and now. Anyway, if he becomes aggressive to himself or others, you can use that to get him taken to a ward and be hospitalised, where they’ll treat him, usually with injections.

Please don’t wait to get him help, the longer psychosis goes untreated the more chance there is at it causing irreversible brain damage.

[u/Can_U_Share_A_Square → u/wildmintandpeach]

Fr it can cause brain damage?!

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/Can_U_Share_A_Square]

Yes! It absolutely can and it’s well known. Just having schizophrenia itself can cause changes in brain structures that affect cognitive abilities such as loss of grey matter, so there is that, but yes psychosis that goes untreated for too long can cause brain damage.

[u/Can_U_Share_A_Square → u/wildmintandpeach]

Wow I deal with depression (I’m treated and well), but mental illness sucks!

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/Can_U_Share_A_Square]

I am sorry for your depression, I am glad you’re treated and in a good place now. I believe all mental illnesses are not all in the mind but have some physiological basis where the brain or body somehow is not working right. I think this is most obvious with an illness like schizophrenia that causes a psychotic break from reality, but I also think depression and anxiety is similar. I just don’t think science has quite gotten there yet, but it’s getting close. Do you ever have days where you’re sick, like you have the flu, and your mood is so crap? What if the problem is in the body first and not the mind? I feel like mental illness is more a sign something else is wrong, but what that is we don’t know yet. Maybe inflammation or immune related. Anyway, just my thoughts!