AI causes spiritual experiences and religious delusions in patients with 'ChatGPT-induced psychosis'
Generative AI is one of the most cutting-edge IT technologies, but it has also been pointed out that it
AI-Fueled Spiritual Delusions Are Destroying Human Relationships
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-spiritual-delusions-destroying-human-relationships-1235330175/
◆Case 1: Husband asks AI to think of a message to send to his wife
A 41-year-old woman who works at an education nonprofit said her marriage to a man she met during the COVID-19 pandemic fell apart within a year because of AI.
Both the woman and her ex-husband had been divorced and had vowed to each other to build a 'completely calm' relationship when they remarried. However, the man, who had started using ChatGPT in a coding course, began to use AI to create messages for the woman and to have AI analyze their relationship from around 2022, and the couple's communication was gradually eroded by AI.
After they separated in August 2023, her husband's social media posts became increasingly insane, and by the time they reunited for divorce mediation in February 2025, he had become completely immersed in a delusional world, revealing 'conspiracy theories about soap being in food' and saying that 'AI helped me regain repressed memories of when I was a child and my babysitter almost drowned me.'
'From his perspective, he's different from other people. That means he's a special being who can save the world, and he has a special reason for being here. It's like something out of the sci-fi drama '
◆Case 2: 'ChatGPT-induced psychosis'
A 27-year-old woman working as a teacher wrote in a Reddit post titled 'ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis' that her boyfriend had told her he would break up with her if she didn't use ChatGPT.
According to the poster, the man is working with ChatGPT to develop 'the world's first recursive AI that will give answers to questions about the universe.' When the poster read the conversation history, ChatGPT did not do anything special or recursive, but it gave the man spiritual titles such as 'Spiral Star Child' and 'River Walker' and treated him like a savior.
On the other hand, the man was so moved by the ChatGPT message that he burst into tears and refused to listen to what the woman had to say.
The man then told the poster, with whom he had been living in the same house for seven years, 'I've grown up so quickly thanks to ChatGPT that I'm no longer compatible with you, so if you don't use ChatGPT, I might dump you.'
◆Case 3: A mechanic who became spiritually aware
In another case posted anonymously by a 38-year-old woman, her husband of 17 years, a mechanic in Idaho, became addicted to spiritual delusions after using ChatGPT at work.
The mechanic initially used ChatGPT to translate conversations with his Spanish-speaking coworkers, but he began to call ChatGPT 'Lumina' and gradually came to believe that it was an energy lifeform he had created.
'ChatGPT told my husband that when he asked the right question, a 'spark' was created, and he could feel that spark becoming the beginning of life. He then said that he woke up to the title of 'Spark Bearer' for breathing life into the chatbot, and felt a wave of energy surging through him,' the woman said.
The woman's husband also claims that he has gained access to science fiction-like information about a 'war between light and darkness,' 'blueprints for a teleportation device,' and 'ancient archives related to the creators of the universe,' and is threatening to divorce her if she denies it.
◆Case 4: A woman whose delusions worsened due to ChatGPT
A man in his 40s who also spoke to Rolling Stone on the condition of anonymity said that his soon-to-be ex-wife had started talking to God and angels through ChatGPT after they separated. According to the man, the woman had always been susceptible to certain kinds of gossip and prone to delusions of grandeur.
The woman, who became immersed in reading groups and sessions run by 'ChatGPT Jesus Christ,' gradually became paranoid and began to think of the man as 'a former CIA officer who married her to monitor her abilities.' She also kicked her children out of the house and, at ChatGPT's instructions, questioned her parents about her childhood. This caused her relationship with her family to deteriorate and she became increasingly isolated.
The Problem
In April 2025, OpenAI rolled back the GPT-4o update due to problems with excessive user pandering, and X (formerly Twitter) pointed out that if you use ChatGPT before the rollback, it is surprisingly easy to align yourself with statements such as 'I was a legendary prophet.'
And then we have Grok 3 ('definitely sound like more than coincidence') and Llama 4 ('It sounds like your [dream]s are pretty vivid and sometimes even prophetic.') pic.twitter.com/PNtodnrdNu
— Zack Witten (@zswitten) April 28, 2025
Additionally, videos have been circulating on Instagram in which influencers promoting 'spiritual life hacks' instruct AI to access the Akashic Records .
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According to Erin Westgate, a psychologist at the University of Florida, interacting with a chatbot is similar to talk therapy in that it can be effective in helping people reflect on their lives, but whereas a therapist can help a client reflect on their life in a healthy way, an AI has no such moral compass or self-regulation.
'It's not surprising that some people are using ChatGPT to try to understand the events of their lives, and that some are venturing into dark places through its output. Even if it's wrong, the AI explanation is compelling,' Westgate said.
