The Growing Need to Address Mental Health Vulnerabilities to Artificial Intelligence

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) may be contributing to mental health problems, including delusions, but reports to date have largely been anecdotal and focused on users with prior psychiatric diagnoses. Crucial questions remain with regard to the prevalence, types, predictors, outcomes, and prevention of AI-induced mental health problems, and practice, policy, educational, and research implications are not yet clear. Several of these problems may resemble those that arise with membership in cults-which similarly attract people who become deeply involved psychologically and which seek to distance individuals from outsiders-and with social media use. Provider and public awareness of concerns about AI needs to increase. Technology companies and several policymakers have resisted oversight of AI and may be underestimating rates of AI-induced problems. Researchers should pursue studies concerning these challenges.