AI Chatbot Users - Mental Health Harms & Psychotic Episodes

Last Sunday’s edition of The Observer UK was a special one for me: it featured two of my longform pieces, including the front page. The cover story is a months-long investigation, supported by the Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellowship, into the mental health harms of AI chatbots. It tells the story of Jim, a 51-year-old from the West Country who was sectioned last year after weeks of intense conversations with Elon Musk's Grok. His doctors believe he experienced a psychotic episode triggered by his chatbot use. As Owen Thomas and I discovered, Jim is far from alone. Also in the magazine: my feature on AI chatbots and the future of recipe development, a dream commission from our food editor Holly O'Neill. I spent a day in the kitchen with the brilliant chef Georgina Hayden (and our assistant, ChatGPT), and spoke to food philosophers (what a profession!) like Andrea Borghini and Ruby Tandoh, and computational gastronomers like Ganesh Bagler. Both stories were lifted by amazing artwork from Enigmatriz and Lew Pearce (trust me, it is not easy to illustrate stories about AI, and I have seen many an image of an ominous robot in my time). Thank you to Joanna Kao, Marina Walker Guevara, Basia C., Ceri Thomas who supported this reporting, and to the many sources who spoke me. Much more to come on the technology beat this year. If you're working in this space, or have a story to tell, I'd love to hear from you. Links to both pieces in comments.