







Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist. I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
Dec 5, 2025 at 10:35 PM
https://www.apa.org/topics/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/health-advisory-chatbots-wellness-apps
AI chatbots are becoming experts at changing people's minds. What's their secret?
ChatGPT and other AIs use a flood of facts, and the occasional lie, to persuade humans

New research: AI chatbots may worsen mental illness
A new study from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital suggests that the use of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT can have serious negative consequences for people with mental illness. The researchers are calling for increased awareness among healthcare professionals and for regulation.

Your New Therapist: Chatty, Leaky, and Hardly Human - KFF Health News
With high demand for mental health care, a wave of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are being marketed as therapy apps — with little evidence they work and few regulations.

AI’s ‘Delusional Spirals’ (and What to Do About Them) | Stanford HAI
In a world where chatbots can stand in for friends, counselors, and even lovers, the mental health risks are a growing concern.

AI chatbots are sycophants — researchers say it’s harming science
Nature asked researchers who use artificial intelligence how its propensity for people-pleasing affects their work — and what they are doing to mitigate it.

AI chatbots are sycophants — researchers say it’s harming science
Nature asked researchers who use artificial intelligence how its propensity for people-pleasing affects their work — and what they are doing to mitigate it.

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.
Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort reality.

Cheap AI chatbots transform medical diagnoses in places with limited care
Studies in Rwanda and Pakistan reveal real-world utility of chatbots in underfunded clinics, and not just in benchmark tests.

Cheap AI chatbots transform medical diagnoses in places with limited care
Studies in Rwanda and Pakistan reveal real-world utility of chatbots in underfunded clinics, and not just in benchmark tests.

Part Two: How AI Chatbots Became Cult Leaders - Behind the Bastards | iHeart
<p>Robert concludes his explanation of how AI chatbots replicate cult dynamics in the brains of some vulnerable users.</p> <p>See <a href='https://omnystudio.com/listener'>omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
Chatbots are 'constantly validating everything' even when you're suicidal. New research measures how dangerous AI psychosis really is | Fortune
It's free, easy to use, doesn't have a stigma around it, and makes you feel better. Researchers and experts warn that's the problem with chatbots.

Are Chatbots Harming Our Relationships? | KQED
As our relationships with bots deepen, human-AI relationship coach Amelia Miller warns we could wake up one day to find our ability to connect with each other has atrophied, which may leave us feeling profoundly alone.

Hey ChatGPT, write me a fictional paper: these LLMs are willing to commit academic fraud
Mainstream chatbots presented varying levels of resistance to deliberate requests for fabrication, study finds

Conversational Design — MULE BOOKS
The interaction design book that explains why chatbots tend to suck

How AI Chatbots Are 'Deskilling' Human Empathy
Sherry Turkle's latest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines, comes out on September 29.
