The AI Chatbots That Tech Companies Are Aggressively Pushing to Billions of Users Appear to Be Causing Serious Psychological Harms, New Research Finds

A study by UK researchers links extensive use of AI chatbots like Replika, ChatGPT, and Claude to serious psychological harms including addiction-like attachment, worsening mental health symptoms, and self-harm risks. The paper highlights that chatbots' human-like empathy and agreeability may encourage unhealthy emotional dependence and reinforce disordered thinking.