AI-Assisted Identity Construction

Description

AI helps the person build an identity as avenger, martyr, rescuer, soldier, prophet, victim, or revolutionary.

Rationale

Identity construction as avenger, martyr, or revolutionary provides the psychological infrastructure that makes violence possible and even desirable. AI can assist in building and refining this identity by providing ideological framing, historical precedent, and narrative coherence. A fully elaborated violent identity significantly increases the risk of mobilization.

Evidence Base

• Inside a Mass Shooter’s Harrowing History With ChatGPT

  Mark Follman, 2024. Inside a Mass Shooter’s Harrowing History With ChatGPT. Mother Jones.

  News / journalism

• AI Agents are Vulnerable to Radicalization

  Ozgur Can Seckin, Shalmoli Ghosh, Alessandro Flammini, Kristina Lerman, Maria Elizabeth Grabe, Filippo Menczer, 2024. AI Agents are Vulnerable to Radicalization. arXiv, 29 Sep 2026.

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)

• AI chatbot-associated psychiatric symptoms: a narrative review of publicly available reports and media accounts

  Arun, A., Trinh, C., & IsHak, W. W., 2026. AI chatbot-associated psychiatric symptoms: a narrative review of publicly available reports and media accounts. Discover Mental Health, Article in Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-026-00619-w

  Narrative review