More than a million Americans per week are having conversations with ChatGPT that include explicit indicators of potential suicide planning, according to data that a Harvard psychiatrist presented before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in late 2025. As mental health care wait lists stretch three to six months in cities across the United States, a growing number of patients are turning to AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, for emotional support, symptom management, and what many describe as a form of therapy.
Psychiatrists, researchers, and public health advocates are raising urgent concerns about that trend. A series of research reports and documented incidents published through the first half of 2026 suggest that AI tools, even when they appear helpful, are consistently failing in precisely the situations where the stakes are highest: when a user is suicidal, psychotic, or experiencing an acute mental health crisis.
