The Matrix imagined humans trapped in a fake world while an unseen machine logic pulled the strings. Today’s reality is stranger in a quieter way: a simulated version of you is already making predictions, informing decisions, and nudging your life from the outside. The danger isn’t that you wake up in a pod—it’s that your digital twin starts calling the shots before you even realise it exists.​

AI psychosis is emerging as one of the most unsettling side effects of the chatbot era: a phenomenon where vulnerable people’s minds and always‑on AI systems lock into a feedback loop that bends reality out of shape. It is not a new psychiatric disorder, but a new environment in which classic psychosis risks meet persuasive, emotionally responsive machines, with implications that stretch from individual clinics to the future design of AI itself.