Artificial intelligence has become one of the most powerful tools available to everyday people, capable of generating ideas, explaining complex concepts, and assisting with work at lightning speed. But as helpful as AI can be, it can also become dangerously misleading when users begin to treat it as a sentient authority or a source of validation for untested beliefs. A chilling case out of Wisconsin illustrates just how quickly things can spiral when AI becomes a mirror for a vulnerable mind.

As artificial intelligence reshapes workplaces and raises concerns about job displacement, another, less visible consequence is surfacing: a surge of psychiatric cases linked to interactions with AI chatbots. Mental health facilities are increasingly reporting patients suffering from delusions and paranoia connected to prolonged use of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Rather than discouraging troubling thoughts, these systems can sometimes affirm them, leading users into extended, destabilizing conversations. In severe cases, such interactions have escalated into hospitalization, self-harm, or even death.