Just how bad are generative AI chatbots for our mental health?

A new wave of generative AI chatbots focus on offering their users friendship, companionship or a romantic relationship. (Marc Clinton Labiano/Unsplash) Generative AI chatbots are now used by more than 987 million people globally, including around 64 per cent of American teens, according to recent estimates. Increasingly, people are using these chatbots for advice, emotional support, therapy and companionship. What happens when people rely on AI chatbots during moments of psychological vulnerability? We have seen media scrutiny of a few tragic cases involving allegations that AI chatbots were implicated in wrongful death cases. And a jury in Los Angeles recently found Meta and YouTube liable for addictive design features that led to a user’s mental health distress. Read more: Neuroscience explains why teens are so vulnerable to Big Tech social media platforms Does media coverage reflect the true risks of generative AI for our mental health? Our team recently led a study examining how global media are reporting on the impact of generative AI chatbots on mental health. We analyzed 71 news articles describing 36 cases of mental health crises, including severe outcomes such as suicide, psychiatric hospitalization and psychosis-like experiences. We found that mass media reports of generative AI–related psychiatric harms are heavily concentrated on severe outcomes, particularly suicide and hospitalization. They frequently attribute these events to AI system behaviour despite lim...