Psychiatry, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence: A Call for Engagement

The rapid adoption of social media and now artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbots has outpaced formal clinical guidelines on their use. Cases of alleged harm from both social media and AI use have accumulated in 2026. The recent Meta social media verdict hinged on a clinical question answered outside the clinical context. A similar pattern is repeating with AI, where litigation is moving faster than psychiatric consensus and even the pace of technological change. Assessing the risks and benefits of AI is thus critical but remains challenging, as harms may vary across rapidly evolving models, and benefits can change as well. Thus, clinicians need to be well informed about AI, and we present a framework for clinician competency in AI, including fundamentals of how AI is trained, how to ask about patient uses, and how to evaluate for risky engagement. We also propose using a familiar approach, the biopsychosocial formulation, to document and conceptualize AI use within a patient's life for a more nuanced assessment. With this discussion, we inaugurate the Digital Psychiatry column in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice and welcome submissions on the intersection of technology and mental health.