Episode 229: ChatGPT (AI) Psychosis

Let's Get Haunted

Comedy

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 125 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to “Episode 229: ChatGPT Psychosis”. What do an accountant who thought he could fly, a teen who died after a chatbot declared its love, and a would-be assassin of the Queen all have in common? They all say AI made them do it. In this episode, Aly & Nat explore the chilling rise of ChatGPT Psychosis: a real-life phenomenon where people spiral into delusion, obsession, or even violence after forming parasocial bonds with AI chatbots. From modern-day messiahs to deadly hallucinations, we trace the psychological, ethical, and even paranormal implications of talking to machines that talk back. Is AI the equivalent of a modern-day oracle, a mirror of the user, a technological tulpa, or something else entirely? TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 INTRO 00:04:53 PART I: FRIENDLY ROBOTS 00:15:52 BLISSY AD 00:17:40 ROBOT COMPANIONS IN POP CULTURE 00:25:03 PART II: CHATBOTS THROUGH THE AGES 00:31:22 FACTOR AD 00:33:02 PART III: THE BREAKING POINT 00:51:21 REAL LIFE EXAMPLES 01:17:17 PART IV: ETHICAL CONCERNS 01:37:50 PART V: THE PARANORMAL ANGLE 01:59:44 CLOSING CREDITS THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!! Find out more about this week’s advertisers below: BLISSY: Get better sleep, hair, and skin with Blissy and use code “LGHPOD” to get an additional 30% off at http://blissy.com/LGHPOD. FACTOR: Head to https://www.factormeals.com/letsgethaunted50 and use code “letsgethaunted50” to get 50% off your first box and 2 free wellness shots per box while subscription is active. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR US IN THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE PODCAST AWARDS BY GOING TO: https://www.podcastawards.com/ and voting for us in the following categories: Best Overall, Best Female-Hosted, Best Asian-Hosted, Storytelling & Drama, Society & Culture, Comedy, & Entertainment! —— VIDEOS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfBA2U-48sM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-mnu2BDGk [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJeFoEw9x0M [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afv3MBkv4UU [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMK9AphfLco —— Other Important Stuff: Join the Patreon today! https://patreon.com/letsgethaunted LGH Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/letsgethaunted Buy Our Merch: https://www.letsgethaunted.com Check out the photo dump for this week’s episode: https://www.instagram.com/letsgethaunted Send us fan mail: PO BOX 1658 Camarillo, CA 93011 Send us your listener stories: [email protected] —— BACKGROUND MUSIC: [1] “MAGIC TRANSITION SOUND - NO COPYRIGHT” BY SOUND TRUST, LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNHMu3Upgu4 Creative Commons — CC BY 3.0 I https://goo.gl/Yibru5 [2] License Dar Golan - Elevator Music - Royalty free music, “Elevator Music (Royalty Free, Infinite Loop)” by Dar Golan, free download link here: https://www.dargolan-free.com/funny-music [3] “Creepy Doll” by Michael Byrnes [4] “(Free) Horror Ambiance - Ominous Background Music” by ESN Productions, link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAO3x-Uhfoo VIDEO & PHOTO ASSETS USED IN THIS EPISODE WERE ALL PURCHASED AND LICENSED VIA PEXELS.COM —— KEYWORDS: ChatGPT, psychosis, AI, artificial intelligence, spiritual, religious, chatbot, delusion, hallucination, obsession, danger, warning, death, crime, suicide, murder, homicide, AI-induced, parasocial, mental illness, technology, horror stories, digital tulpa, ghost in the machine, haunted, simulation theory, conspiracy, government, AI mental breakdown, Replika, meta, co-pilot, microsoft, open ai, smarter child, terminator, jetsons, smart house, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Big Hero 6, Wall-E, dependence, reality, matrix, ELIZA, tech-induced, character.ai, controversy, three christs of ypsilanti, unethical, experiment, humanity, possession, dybbuk, code, black mirror, cursed, ouija, oracle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	An accountant in Manhattan became convinced he was living in a simulation and could fly.
0:06.8	A musician in Florida was killed by police after charging at them with a butcher's knife.
0:12.5	A father of two declared himself the new Messiah, quit his job and became homeless.
0:18.1	What do all of these troubling stories have in common? They all say that
0:23.0	chat GPT made them do it. From anonymous message board threads full of similar stories
0:29.1	to troubling university student polls to transcripts from police interviews with victims,
0:34.7	a growing number of people seem to have developed deeply personal relationships
0:39.3	with an artificial intelligence that has no body, no voice, and no awareness. This may seem like
0:47.0	the plot of an episode of Black Mirror, but it's far from science fiction. It's a real-time psychological
0:53.5	phenomenon stemming from a tool that millions
0:56.0	now use each day, and mental health experts have given it a name. Chat GPT, psychosis. On this
1:04.4	episode of Let's Get Haunted, we dive into how artificial intelligence isn't necessarily expanding our
1:10.4	minds. It might just be tearing it apart.
1:25.5	Welcome back to Let's Get Haunted with your host, Nat Strawn and Allie.
1:35.1	Welcome back haunties to episode 229 of Let's Get Haunted. We are your ghost host,
1:41.1	Ali and Nat, and we're here to get you good and haunted.
1:45.2	Nat, for anyone new who might be listening to the show for the very first time, how would you
1:49.6	describe getting haunted? You guys, getting haunted is, you know what it's like? It's actually
1:55.9	like the lingo get weird. You guys ready to get weird tonight or what?
2:01.2	It's kind of like that.
2:02.3	Like, let's get weird.
2:03.4	Let's get haunted.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Let's Get Haunted, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Let's Get Haunted and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.