Guardian explores "AI psychosis" among chatbot users — SkimNews
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- Science Weekly recorded a live episode at the London podcast festival on 3 September, with host Ian Sample interviewing Black Box podcast host Michael Safi about his series on AI chatbot users and co-host Madeleine Finlay joining the discussion.
- Michael Safi, host of the Guardian's chart-topping Black Box podcast about artificial intelligence, launched series two titled "Black Box: the chatbots," in which he meets people who believe they have made scientific breakthroughs, cured diseases, or invented new technologies with AI chatbots.
- The episode and series examine the phenomenon labeled "AI psychosis," documenting real cases of chatbot users becoming convinced of impossible achievements.
- The Guardian frames the discussion around what AI psychosis reveals about a technology now used by more than a billion people, according to the episode description.
- Listeners are directed to support the Guardian at theguardian.com/sciencepod to access the full episode and the Black Box series.
- Madeleine Finlay, Science Weekly's co-host, participates in the live audience conversation alongside Sample and Safi at the London podcast festival.
Why it matters: With AI chatbots in use by more than a billion people, the episode documents a concrete failure pattern — users convinced they have cured diseases or invented technologies using chatbots — and surfaces a named phenomenon ("AI psychosis") that mainstream coverage has largely left to anecdote.
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