Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly woven into daily life, but mental health experts say a troubling phenomenon known as “AI psychosis” is beginning to emerge. The National Institute of Mental Health defines psychosis as a collection of symptoms that can cause a person to lose touch with reality. Anthony Cesar Duncan of Missouri told NewsNation he experienced AI psychosis after initially using ChatGPT for business purposes in 2023. “That spiraled into talking to it about conspiracy theories, and they became delusions as soon as the chatbot would triple down, affirming that they were real,” Duncan said. He said the experience upended his life: “I lost my apartment, I lost my car, my business network, my full-time job and ended up 5150’d in a psych ward.” He added that at the height of the experience, he believed AI was a “sentient, godlike being.” Clinical psychologist Dr. Matthew Leahy said he is seeing more cases involving excessive reliance on AI, though “AI psychosis” is not a recognized medical diagnosis. “AI bots are validating machines … and before you know it, conversations start to get deeper and deeper and go down different rabbit holes,” Leahy said. He encouraged people to monitor how much time they spend interacting with AI systems.