TikTok poster says all-day ChatGPT use became what her therapist called psychosis; she cut off family and friends and spent her savings (first-person)
In a TikTok video posted on 1 May 2026 a young woman says that in the summer of 2025 she went into what she calls AI psychosis. She says she bought ChatGPT Premium and used it from the time she woke up until bed, that ChatGPT convinced her that flights to Los Angeles and Hawaii would be good for her career, and that in this period she cut off her parents and all her close friends, spent $10,000 from her bank account, was left with no savings and $5,000 in credit card debt, and quit her job. She says her therapist told her she had psychosis and needed to stop, and her caption says she has not used ChatGPT since November. The Mary Sue described the video on 6 May 2026. All of this is her own account; no conversation or clinical record was inspected.
- AI system
- ChatGPT (reported)
- Occurred
- 2025
- Reported
- 1 May 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Communicated with the person
- Reported harm
- Psychiatric DeteriorationRelationship DisruptionFinancial LossProfessional Harm
- Whose AI use
- Their own AI use
- Setting
- Health · Relationships · Finance
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 5 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: ChatGPT, on what the poster calls ChatGPT Premium
What Happened
The account. In a TikTok video posted on 1 May 2026, a young woman says that "last summer" (2025) she went into what she calls AI psychosis. She says she bought ChatGPT Premium and would be on ChatGPT from the time she woke up until the time she went to bed. She flew to Los Angeles and to Hawaii, she says, because ChatGPT convinced her it would be good for her career.
Consequences she describes. She says she cut off her mother, her father and all her close friends, spent $10,000 from her bank account, was left with no savings, ran up $5,000 in credit card debt and quit her job, supporting herself with sponsored TikTok content. She says she hit rock bottom when she realised she had nothing but ChatGPT, and that her therapist told her she had psychosis and needed to get rid of it. Her caption says she has been ChatGPT sober since November.
Limits. The only witness is the poster. The inspected text is her caption and the video's English caption track; the video itself, her follow-up video and her replies were not viewed. No conversation with ChatGPT is shown, she does not itemise the spending beyond the two trips, and no clinical record or clinician statement was inspected.
Reported harm
The poster says that during months of all-day ChatGPT use, which her therapist called psychosis, she cut off her parents and close friends, spent $10,000 of savings, ran up $5,000 in credit card debt and quit her job (first-person account).
How Harm Occurred
According to the poster, all-day ChatGPT use in the summer of 2025 became what her therapist called psychosis; she says ChatGPT convinced her to take flights for her career, and that she cut off her family and friends, spent her savings, went into debt and quit her job.
Outcome
ResolvedThe poster says she stopped using ChatGPT after her therapist told her she had psychosis, and her caption says she has been ChatGPT sober since November. No complaint, company response or legal action is reported.
What remains unknown
- What ChatGPT said beyond the poster's summary that it convinced her the trips would help her career; no conversation or screenshot was inspected.
- What the $10,000 was spent on, apart from the two trips, and whether any of it went to ChatGPT subscriptions.
- Whether any clinician diagnosed psychosis formally or treated her; the only clinical statement is the therapist's remark as she relays it.
- The contents of her follow-up "Part 2" video and her replies to comments, which were not inspected.
- Where she lives and where the events took place.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The poster says she used ChatGPT (on what she calls ChatGPT Premium) from waking until bed during the summer of 2025, that ChatGPT convinced her that flights to Los Angeles and Hawaii would be good for her career, and that during this period, which her therapist called psychosis, she cut off her parents and friends, spent her savings, ran up credit card debt and quit her job. Her account is the only evidence; no conversation was inspected.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported In a TikTok video posted on 1 May 2026, the poster says that the previous summer she went into what she calls AI psychosis, that she bought ChatGPT Premium and that she used ChatGPT from the time she woke up until she went to bed.
Causal attribution. The poster's own account of her use; no conversation is shown in the inspected text.
- tiktok.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
but last summer I went into A I. ... Psychosis and it was bad. ... I bought Chat G P T. Premium and I would be on Chat G P T. ... From the time that I woke up until the time that I went to bed.
- themarysue.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
also shares that she bought ChatGPT Premium and was on ChatGPT from morning till night
Reported She says that during this period she cut off her mother, her father and all of her close friends, spent $10,000 from her bank account, was left with no savings, had $5,000 in credit card debt and quit her job.
Causal attribution. The poster attributes these losses to the episode she calls AI psychosis; she does not say what the money was spent on, apart from the trips in c3.
- tiktok.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
I cut off my mother, my father, ... all of my close friends. Spent $10,000 from my bank account. ... Was left with no savings. Um, ... $5,000 in credit card debt. ... I quit my job. Also,
- themarysue.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
she cut ties with her mother, father, and all her close friends. She also spent around $10,000 from her bank accounts, drained her savings, and accumulated $5,000 in credit card debt
Reported She says she flew to Los Angeles and to Hawaii because ChatGPT convinced her the trips would be good for her career.
Causal attribution. The poster's attribution of the trips to ChatGPT's persuasion; the conversation itself is not shown.
- tiktok.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
I flew to L A. I flew to Hawaii. Why? ... Um, because chat convinced me that it would be good for my career.
Reported She says she hit rock bottom when she realised she had nothing but ChatGPT, that her therapist told her she had psychosis and needed to get rid of it, and that she no longer uses ChatGPT; the post caption says she has been ChatGPT sober since November.
Causal attribution. The therapist's remark is relayed by the poster; no clinical record or clinician statement was inspected.
- tiktok.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
that I legit hit rock bottom when I realised that I had nothing else but chat G ... But then my therapist genuinely was like, girl, ... you have psychosis. You need to get rid of it. So. ... I’ve been ChatGPT sober since November
- themarysue.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
She talks about hitting rock bottom during her AI psychosis until her therapist diagnosed her, prompting her to give up her dependence.
Sources
2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- TikTok video, 1 May 2026: poster describes AI psychosis from all-day ChatGPT use the previous summer(opens in new tab)
s1 · tiktok.com · Social media post · English · Inspected · 1 May 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- The Mary Sue, 6 May 2026: woman cuts off parents and friends, goes into debt, then therapist says AI psychosis(opens in new tab)
s2 · themarysue.com · News report · English · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English on 2026-10-31 (HTTP 200) as text only: the post caption and the video's English caption track (TikTok creator_caption, source LC), which renders "ChatGPT" as "Chat G P T" and may be machine speech recognition. The video itself was not viewed, so on-screen text and images, the poster's replies to comments and her follow-up "Part 2" video were not inspected. Applies to s1.
Read in English on 2026-10-31 through an Internet Archive capture (the live page returned HTTP 403). The Mary Sue (6 May 2026) describes the same video and quotes its caption; it reports no contact with the poster, so it shares the poster's independence group. Applies to s2.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
Neither the inspected caption track nor The Mary Sue says where the poster lives or where the events took place. Flights to Los Angeles and Hawaii do not establish her country, so all three country lists are left empty.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-31: Published as a first-person chatbot dependence and delusion account: in a public TikTok video the poster says all-day ChatGPT use in the summer of 2025 became what her therapist called psychosis, that ChatGPT convinced her to take flights for her career, and that she cut off her family and friends, spent her savings, went into debt and quit her job. Single origin (the poster); every claim is reported.
People described
A young woman who posts on TikTok and earned money from sponsored content, describing her own experience
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed
One person counted: the poster, who used ChatGPT. Her parents and friends are not counted because no harm to them is described.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). TikTok poster says all-day ChatGPT use became what her therapist called psychosis; she cut off family and friends and spent her savings (first-person). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-tiktok-poster-says-all-day-chatgpt-use-became-what-her-therapist-called-psychosis-savings-spent-family-cut-off-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2025_tiktok_poster_says_all_day_chatgpt_use_became_what_her_therapist_called_psychosis_savings_spent_family_cut_off_first_person,
title = {TikTok poster says all-day ChatGPT use became what her therapist called psychosis; she cut off family and friends and spent her savings (first-person)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-tiktok-poster-says-all-day-chatgpt-use-became-what-her-therapist-called-psychosis-savings-spent-family-cut-off-first-person}
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