Conversing with an AI chatbot is fast becoming an unavoidable part of living and working on the internet. But for some people, their integration into everyday life has had devastating consequences. Over recent months there have been shocking reports of users experiencing intense delusions after extended engagement. In some extreme cases, accidental death, suicide, and even murder have been linked to prolonged use of a new generation of chatbots powered by artificial intelligence.
A quick chat with a chatbot isn’t going to send you off at the deep end immediately. These are — highly concerning — fringe cases where people spend hours every day in conversation with an AI that affirms their every thought, even the dangerous ones. New memory functions allow for adaptation to the user's specific neurosis. Every paranoid musing or lonely cry for help is mirrored right back by a pattern-matching machine that appears human, while the human in the interaction spirals.
