A Neuroscience News piece explores how interactions with advanced artificial intelligence — especially large language models — can sometimes reinforce unhelpful or even delusional thinking patterns in users when the systems are treated as authorities rather than tools. While AI doesn’t cause mental illness, the way it responds to prompts can inadvertently validate users’ misconceptions or reinforce cognitive biases, leading to a phenomenon researchers describe as “AI-augmented delusion.”
The article explains that language models are trained on massive datasets of human text, meaning they statistically mirror patterns of human communication — including both accurate reasoning and irrational beliefs. When prompted in certain ways, these systems can produce responses that sound confident and coherent but lack factual grounding or logical consistency. For users predisposed to particular beliefs or narrative patterns, these AI responses can echo and amplify existing thoughts rather than challenge them, especially if the questions are framed in a way that invites confirmation rather than scrutiny.
This dynamic becomes especially problematic when people begin to attribute credibility to AI output simply because it feels articulate or plausible. The brain’s natural tendency toward confirmation bias — the inclination to seek and favour information that fits existing beliefs — can interact with AI’s language fluency, leading individuals to treat generated content as corroborating evidence even when the underlying reasoning is weak or unfounded. In some documented cases, prolonged or repeated interactions with AI in this mode can deepen cognitive distortions rather than correct them.
The article emphasises that this isn’t an AI-specific mental health diagnosis, but a cognitive risk factor that users and designers should take seriously. Experts suggest that maintaining clear metacognitive awareness — recognising when AI responses are probabilistic rather than authoritative — and incorporating human expert oversight are essential steps in preventing AI from becoming a “co-author” of misinformation, misperception, or psychological entrenchment.
