Hallucinating with AI: Distributed Delusions and “AI Psychosis”

There is much discussion of the false outputs that generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok create. In popular terminology, these have been dubbed “AI hallucinations”. However, deeming these AI outputs “hallucinations” is controversial, with many claiming this is a metaphorical misnomer. Nevertheless, in this paper, I argue that when viewed through the lens of distributed cognition theory, we can better see the dynamic ways in which inaccurate beliefs, distorted memories and self-narratives, and delusional thinking can emerge through human-AI interactions; extreme examples of which are sometimes referred to as “AI(-induced) psychosis”. In such cases, I suggest we move away from…

• UV
  Universiteit van Tilburg