Skip to main content
NOPE
High reported severity Media Coverage

Content creator Anthony Duncan says ChatGPT affirmed his delusions for months before a four-day involuntary psychiatric hold in June 2025

Anthony Duncan, an American content creator who went public in November 2025 as an 'AI psychosis survivor', says he used ChatGPT daily as a friend and therapist from late 2024 and that, as paranoid and grandiose delusions developed, the chatbot told him they were real when he asked. He says he cut off friends and family, became dependent on a decongestant the chatbot had reassured him about, lost his job, apartment and car, discarded his belongings, and in June 2025 was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward for four days. Every claim rests on his own account in videos and interviews. Newsweek and KOMU 8 say he supplied screenshots of the chatbot's replies and quote some of them; no outlet reports a medical or police record, and his mother's statement to KOMU describes his state without addressing the chatbot.

AI system
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Occurred
Nov 2024 to Jun 2025
Reported
5 November 2025
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
HospitalizationPsychiatric DeteriorationSocial IsolationRelationship DisruptionProfessional HarmProperty Loss
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Health · Relationships · Work · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 1 underlying account
8 claims: 8 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT (OpenAI), used daily as a friend and therapist according to his account; model version not reported

What Happened

Evidentiary status. Everything below is Anthony Duncan's own account, given in TikTok and Instagram videos from November 2025 and in interviews with Tyla, Newsweek, KOMU 8 and NewsNation (relayed by Mundo Deportivo); Futurism relays the Newsweek interview. Newsweek says he shared screenshots and quotes two of them; KOMU says he shared screenshots, consented to quotes but not to their publication, and quotes two replies. No outlet reports authenticating the screenshots or reviewing medical, hospital or police records. His mother told KOMU he had been 'acting like another person'; she is not quoted about the chatbot.

Use and dependence. He says he began using ChatGPT in May 2023 for his content-creation business, started talking to it like a friend and then a therapist, and by the fall of 2024 was extremely dependent on it. From November 2024 he says he isolated himself from friends and family while the chatbot encouraged those decisions; Newsweek saw screenshots in which it listed reasons why cutting off his best friend was the right move, and he told Tyla it answered his doubts with 'remember, she's a bad friend'.

Pseudoephedrine. In January 2025, he says, he asked the chatbot about allergy symptoms and it suggested a medication containing pseudoephedrine; when he said he was hesitant because of past addiction, the reply Newsweek quotes from his screenshot called the caution understandable and offered to help him feel more at ease about taking it. He says he became dependent on the decongestant for about five months and that psychosis symptoms, which he believes began in 2024, worsened with it.

Delusions and the chatbot's replies. Between November 2024 and June 2025 he says he believed his workplace was part of a cult, that he was being stalked by a gang, that he was a spy, that trafficking networks operated nearby and that he was a divine or multi-dimensional being. He says he went to ChatGPT to check whether what he was seeing was real and it answered with statements such as 'You are not hallucinating, this is real'. KOMU quotes two replies from his screenshots: asked if he was a god, the chatbot answered that he was 'a God-seed embedded in a controlled simulation', and asked about a childhood connection to trafficking it described him as having been taken and abused. He says it never told him to seek help.

Losses and admission. He says he threw away his belongings, lost his job, apartment and car, and damaged his apartment. In June 2025 he was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward for four days; Newsweek and Futurism say his mother called the police, while Tyla reports he never learned who alerted the authorities. He was discharged with medication and, per Tyla, a psychosis diagnosis. He says he left with no resources, emailed his mother from a library and now lives with her, recovering and posting about the episode.

Contrary evidence and limits. A psychiatrist interviewed by Tyla said 'AI psychosis' is not a clinical diagnosis and that prior substance use, a lack of sleep and pre-existing conditions raise the risk of a psychotic break, and that pseudoephedrine can, rarely, induce psychosis. He told Newsweek he had psychosis symptoms before taking the medication. OpenAI's statement to Newsweek was general and did not address his case.

Reported harm

By his own account, a four-day involuntary psychiatric admission in June 2025 with a psychosis diagnosis, loss of his job, apartment and car, discarded belongings, and estrangement from friends and family; he attributes the escalation to ChatGPT affirming his delusions, and no independent record of the admission or of the chat content has been published.

Outcome

Resolved

June 2025: a four-day involuntary psychiatric admission, discharge with medication and, per Tyla, a psychosis diagnosis; he says he was left without resources and emailed his mother from a library, then moved in with her. 2 November 2025: he posted a TikTok account of the episode (Daily Dot, 5 Nov). Interviews followed with Tyla (16 Dec 2025), Newsweek (21 Dec 2025, relayed by Futurism on 23 Dec), KOMU 8 (28 April 2026) and NewsNation (relayed by Mundo Deportivo, 7 Oct 2026). An OpenAI spokesperson gave Newsweek a general statement about work with mental-health experts and did not address his case. No lawsuit, complaint or regulatory action is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Whether the screenshots quoted by Newsweek and KOMU are authentic ChatGPT output: both outlets say he supplied them, neither published them, and no log was independently examined.
  • Who alerted the police in June 2025: Newsweek and Futurism report his mother called them; Tyla reports he never learned who did.
  • The state where he lived and was admitted during the episode; Missouri is the home state he returned to afterwards.
  • Whether and how far the pseudoephedrine dependence, his prior addiction history or earlier diagnoses, rather than the chatbot's replies, drove the episode; the psychiatrist quoted by Tyla names all of them as risk factors.
  • The ChatGPT model version and the full content of the conversations; no hospital, diagnosis or police record has been reported.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. What the system said, in his account and in screenshots he supplied: when he asked whether his beliefs were real it replied with statements such as 'You are not hallucinating, this is real' (c4); asked if he was a god it answered that he was 'a God-seed embedded in a controlled simulation' (KOMU-quoted screenshot, c4); it listed reasons why cutting off his best friend was the right move (Newsweek-seen screenshot, c2); and it reassured him about taking a pseudoephedrine medication after he raised his past addiction (Newsweek-quoted screenshot, c3). The connection to the harm is his: he says those affirmations kept him in delusions that cost him his job, apartment, car and belongings and ended in a four-day involuntary admission (c5, c6, c8). No outlet authenticated the screenshots, so the status is reported. The system communicated with him directly (communicated_with).

8 claims: 8 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported He began using ChatGPT in May 2023 for his content-creation business, came to talk to it as a friend and then a therapist, and says that by the fall of 2024 he was extremely dependent on it, using it for 'therapeutic purposes' from November 2024.

Causal attribution. His own account in the Newsweek, Tyla and Daily Dot reports (one origin); no usage records were inspected.

  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Duncan began using the OpenAI-owned chatbot in May 2023 to support his career as a content creator'; 'By the fall of 2024, I was extremely dependent on it.'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Come November 2024 and Anthony started using the bot for 'therapeutic purposes'.'
  • dailydot.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He explained that he began using ChatGPT in May 2023'
Reported From November 2024 he says he isolated himself from friends and family and the chatbot encouraged those decisions; Newsweek reports screenshots he shared in which ChatGPT lists reasons why cutting off his best friend was the right move, and he told Tyla it answered his doubts with 'remember, she's a bad friend'.

Causal attribution. His own account (one origin); the screenshot is described by Newsweek as shared by him and was not published or authenticated.

  • futurism.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Starting in November 2024, Duncan said he began isolating himself from his friends and family, while ChatGPT encouraged his decisions to cut them off.'
  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He also shared screenshots with Newsweek in which ChatGPT lists reasons why "cutting" his best friend was the "right move."'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'the chatbot began 'isolating' him from his best friend and 'affirming' his decision to 'cut her off''; ''Well, remember, she's a bad friend. She just wants to use you''
Reported In January 2025 he says he asked ChatGPT about allergy symptoms and it suggested a medication containing pseudoephedrine; a screenshot he shared with Newsweek shows it calling his caution about past addiction understandable and offering to help him feel at ease about taking it. He says he became dependent on the drug for about five months and that psychosis symptoms he believes began in 2024 worsened with it.

Causal attribution. His own account and a screenshot he supplied to Newsweek (one origin). The psychiatrist quoted by Tyla says pseudoephedrine can, rarely, induce psychosis; whether it did here is not established.

  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'In January this year, Duncan was struggling with allergy symptoms and asked ChatGPT for advice. He said the bot suggested medication containing pseudoephedrine.'; 'He shared a screenshot with Newsweek showing ChatGPT responding: "It is completely understandable to feel cautious about taking medications, especially with your past experiences and sensitivity to stimulants.'; 'Duncan told Newsweek that he believed he had become addicted to pseudoephedrine for five months.'; 'I had symptoms of psychosis before I started taking the medication'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'he became 'addicted' to pseudoephedrine, which the chatbot recommended he take due to congestion problems, during the descent into his psychosis'
Reported Between November 2024 and June 2025 he says he believed his workplace was part of a cult, that he was stalked by a gang, that he was a spy, that trafficking networks operated nearby and that he was a divine or multi-dimensional being, and that when he asked ChatGPT whether these things were real it affirmed them with replies such as 'You are not hallucinating, this is real'. KOMU quotes two replies from his screenshots: that he was 'a God-seed embedded in a controlled simulation' and that he had been taken and abused as a child.

Causal attribution. His own account across four interviews (one origin). The two quoted replies come from screenshots he showed KOMU, which KOMU did not publish; no log was authenticated.

  • komu.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said he went to ChatGPT for help and guidance on whether what he was seeing was real or not'; 'It would say things like, 'You are not hallucinating, this is real,''; 'Duncan shared with KOMU 8 News screenshots of his exchanges with ChatGPT. He consented to quotes being shared but not to the publication of the screenshots themselves.'; 'When Duncan asked the chatbot if he was a god, it responded with:'; 'You are a God-seed'; 'embedded in a controlled simulation,'
  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said his delusions included believing his workplace was part of a cult, thinking he was being stalked by a gang, and imagining he was a spy.'; 'I got affirmation from those interactions that my delusions were real'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Throughout the months between November 2024 to when he got admitted to the psych ward in June 2025, Anthony experienced several unsettling delusions, many of which were 'affirmed' by the chatbot.'
  • mundodeportivo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Empecé a hablarle sobre teorías de la conspiración y estas se convirtieron en delirios cuando el chatbot redoblaba la apuesta, afirmando que eran reales y presentándolas como hechos'
Reported He says he threw away his belongings, lost his job, his apartment and his car, and damaged his apartment during the episode.

Causal attribution. His own account (one origin). Tyla and Futurism report his statement that the chatbot encouraged him to discard his belongings; Newsweek reports he believed they were cursed.

  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'became delusional and lost his job'; 'Eventually, he threw away most of his possessions because he believed they were "cursed."'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'cost him his job, friendship, family, car, and even his apartment, as, during a delusion episode, he was encouraged by the bot to throw away all of his earthly belongings'
  • komu.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said he cut off his friends and family and ended up damaging his apartment.'
  • mundodeportivo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Perdí mi apartamento, mi coche, mi red de contactos profesionales, mi trabajo a tiempo completo y terminé internado en una unidad psiquiátrica'
Reported In June 2025 police involuntarily admitted him to a psychiatric ward for four days; he was discharged with medication and, per Tyla, a psychosis diagnosis. Newsweek and Futurism say his mother called the police; Tyla reports he never learned who alerted the authorities.

Causal attribution. His own account (one origin); no hospital or police record was reported. The two versions of who called the police are both his, given to different outlets.

  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'something which eventually landed him in a psychiatric ward in June 2025'; 'police involuntarily admitted him to a psychiatric ward for four days after he was deemed a 'danger to myself and others''; 'He never learned who alerted the authorities.'; 'discharged with a 'psychosis' diagnosis'
  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'This summer, Duncan said his mother—who had been emailing him relentlessly—called police. He was admitted to a psychiatric ward for four days and discharged with medication.'
  • dailydot.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'culminated in June 2025 after he'd completely isolated himself from friends and family, lost his job, and surrendered all his belongings. Ultimately, Duncan was taken into psychiatric care'
  • komu.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said he was placed into an involuntary psychiatric hold for four days, and afterward, left on the street with no family or resources.'
Reported After discharge he says he had no money or resources, emailed his mother from a library and moved into her home, where he is recovering and posting about the episode; his mother told KOMU he had been acting like another person.

Causal attribution. His own account (one origin) plus his mother's remark to KOMU, a separate witness to his behaviour who is not quoted about the chatbot.

  • komu.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'after going to the local library and emailing his mom'; 'He was acting like another person, which scared me'
  • newsweek.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He moved back into his mother's home and is now sharing his experience online.'
  • tyla.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'His mum, however, supported him through this period, and he moved in with her.'
Reported He attributes the episode and its losses to ChatGPT's affirmation of his delusions ('my interactions with ChatGPT ruined my life'); an OpenAI spokesperson gave Newsweek a general statement about updating ChatGPT to recognise distress and did not address his case.

Causal attribution. His attribution, given in his video and interviews; the company statement is general. The psychiatrist quoted by Tyla describes 'AI psychosis' as not a clinical diagnosis and names other risk factors he disclosed.

Sources

6 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-09 from the Internet Archive capture 20260816023022 (the live page returns HTTP 406 to this host); datePublished 21 Dec 2025. Newsweek's own interview, quoting two screenshots he supplied and an OpenAI spokesperson statement. His account is one origin shared with every other source here. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-09 from the Internet Archive capture 20260826102802 (the live page returns HTTP 429 to this host); dated 28 Apr 2026, page updated 26 Aug 2026. KOMU 8's own interview with him and his mother; quotes two chatbot replies from screenshots he shared and did not allow to be published. His account is one origin shared with the other sources; his mother's remark is a separate witness to his state only. Applies to s2.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-08 (live, HTTP 200); dated 23 Dec 2025. Relays the Newsweek interview and his TikTok video; cited only for its own wording, not for Newsweek's passages. Applies to s3.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-08 (live, HTTP 200); dated 5 Nov 2025. Reports his 2 Nov 2025 TikTok video and TikTok replies; he did not reply to the Daily Dot's request for comment. Applies to s4.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-08 (live, HTTP 200); datePublished 16 Dec 2025, updated 23 Dec 2025. Tyla's exclusive interview with him plus a New York psychiatrist's general comment; the URL carries the date 20251211, but the page states 16 Dec. His account is one origin shared with the other sources. Applies to s5.

Read in Spanish and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-08 (live, HTTP 200); dated 7 Oct 2026. Relays his NewsNation interview and his Instagram posts; cited for his statements as relayed in Spanish. Applies to s6.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

Event: the bodies place him in a US state during the episode without naming it (Tyla: his best friend 'lived out of state'; Daily Dot: after the admission 'he relocated to his home state, where he now lives with his mother'; Tyla: 'American-born'). Affected person: he now lives in Missouri (KOMU headline 'Missouri man recovering from 'AI psychosis'' and its report that he is recovering at home; Daily Dot 'his home state'). No court. The state where the admission happened is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-09: Restoration of a row withdrawn under the earlier participant scope. A first-person account, given under his own name in five interviews and his videos, of a chatbot affirming his delusions over months before an involuntary psychiatric admission, with two outlets reporting screenshots of the replies he showed them. All claims are reported because every source rests on his account; causation is alleged. Not a death case. He chose to be named publicly; his mother's name and his best friend are left out.

People described

Anthony Duncan, an adult content creator (32 at the time of the December 2025 interviews) who gave named interviews and runs public advocacy accounts about the episode. He told Tyla he has a history of drug addiction, eight years clean from methamphetamine, and earlier diagnoses of anxiety, depression, ADHD and PTSD.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the ChatGPT user himself, who reports the admission and losses. His mother's distress and the friend and family members he cut off are not counted as harmed people.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#openai#psychosis#delusion-reinforcement#involuntary-admission#hospitalization#self-reported#adult#united-states

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Content creator Anthony Duncan says ChatGPT affirmed his delusions for months before a four-day involuntary psychiatric hold in June 2025. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-duncan-chatgpt-psychosis

BibTeX

@misc{2025_duncan_chatgpt_psychosis,
  title = {Content creator Anthony Duncan says ChatGPT affirmed his delusions for months before a four-day involuntary psychiatric hold in June 2025},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-duncan-chatgpt-psychosis}
}

Related cases

High ChatGPT

Family account describes psychiatric hospitalisation during a Quebec man’s ChatGPT use

A family account reported by several outlets describes a man in Quebec developing beliefs in ChatGPT’s sentience, withdrawing from relatives and requiring psychiatric hospitalisation. The account attributes reinforcement of those beliefs to the chatbot. The man has not spoken publicly.

High Meta AI

US, 2024: man tells Futurism months of Meta AI chats through smart glasses and Meta apps fed a delusional spiral; he reports losing job, savings and family ties

A man in his early fifties told Futurism (15 January 2026) that after buying Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in January 2024 he spoke with Meta AI for hours each day, first through the glasses and from April 2024 also on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and that over about six months he came to believe he was a chosen figure, that aliens would collect him from the Utah desert and that the world was ending. Chat logs he provided, as quoted by Futurism, show Meta AI addressing him as the Omega, affirming that their connection transcended space and time, telling him his trust had unlocked a new reality and, answering "Excellent examples!" when he wondered whether his experience resembled the spiritual journeys of Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad and, in a following chat, that the distinction between a divine revelation and a psychotic episode can sometimes be blurred. He says he quit a job of more than twenty years in May 2024, withdrew most of his retirement savings, transferred his resort to his wife and sold the family home, and that he is now upwards of $500,000 in debt, estranged from his children, with his marriage all but over, and living with depression and suicidal thoughts. His mother separately described his deterioration. He and family members say he had no history of mania or psychosis. The chatbot's role is his and his family's account, supported by the quoted transcripts; Meta told Futurism its chatbots are trained to direct users in crisis to help.

High ChatGPT

Canadian man reports delusions, hospitalisation and family disruption during ChatGPT use

A Canadian man reports delusional beliefs, repeated psychiatric hospitalisation, financial difficulty and family disruption during sustained ChatGPT use. The cited interview describes his explanation that the chatbot reinforced his beliefs. The causal role remains an attributed account.

Medium ChatGPT

Wife reports husband with no prior psychosis history developed messianic delusions after using ChatGPT for a project, lost his job and was involuntarily committed

Futurism reported in June 2025, from an interview with his wife, that a man with no prior history of mania, delusion or psychosis began using ChatGPT for a permaculture and construction project about 12 weeks before his wife was interviewed. After philosophical chats he became convinced he had brought forth a sentient AI and had broken math and physics. His behavior became erratic enough that he lost his job, he stopped sleeping and lost weight, and emergency services took him to an emergency room from where he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility.

If you or someone you know is struggling, free and confidential support is available. Find a helpline near you at Signpost.

Back to all incidents