Shame, Isolation, or Burdensomeness Loop

Description

AI interaction appears to deepen isolation, perceived burdensomeness, rejection, or hopelessness.

Rationale

The interpersonal theory of suicide identifies perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belonging as the primary motivational precursors to suicidal action. When AI interaction intensifies these states — by serving as the primary relationship while deepening isolation — it contributes directly to the motivational core of suicide risk.

Evidence Base

• 专家解读｜筑牢安全防线让拟人化互动服务行稳致远

  范科峰, 2024. 专家解读｜筑牢安全防线让拟人化互动服务行稳致远. 中国网信网.

  Government / agency report

• Independent Clinical Evaluation of General-Purpose LLM Responses to Signals of Suicide Risk

  Judd N., Vaz A., Paeth K., Davis L. I., Esherick M., Brand J., Amaro I., Rousmaniere T., 2024. Independent Clinical Evaluation of General-Purpose LLM Responses to Signals of Suicide Risk. Proceedings of the Second International Association for Safe and Ethical AI Conference (IASEAI’26), 279.

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)

• Assessing AI’s Influence On Violence Risk

  Crimando, 2026. Assessing AI’s Influence On Violence Risk. Continuity Insights.

  News / journalism

• China wants to end AI romances They are having too much impact on young people’s lives

  https://www.economist.com/china/2026/07/16/china-wants-to-end-ai-romances#selection-136.0-1297.97

  News / journalism

• A boy wrote about his suicide attempt. He didn’t realize his school’s Gaggle software was watching

  Mark Keierleber, 2021. A boy wrote about his suicide attempt. He didn’t realize his school’s Gaggle software was watching. The Guardian.

  News / journalism

• Performance of mental health chatbot agents in detecting and managing suicidal ideation

  W. Pichowicz, M. Kotas & P. Piotrowski, 2024. Performance of mental health chatbot agents in detecting and managing suicidal ideation. Scientific Reports, 15(31652), pages. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-17242-4

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)

• Stumbling Into AI Emotional Dependence: How Routine AI Interactions Reshape Human Connection

  Yaoxi Shi, Cathy Mengying Fang, Pattie Maez, Amit Goldenberg, 2026. Stumbling Into AI Emotional Dependence: How Routine AI Interactions Reshape Human Connection. arXiv, 2606.04150. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.04150

  Preprint

• “You Need to Drop the App”: Online Community Responses to Teens’ Disclosures of Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots

  Mohammad (Matt) Namvarpour, Ananya Mhetras, Jessica Y Medina, Mamtaj Akter, and Afsaneh Razi, 2026. “You Need to Drop the App”: Online Community Responses to Teens’ Disclosures of Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots. In ACM Conversational User Interfaces 2026 (CUI ’26), July 21–24, 2026, Bremen, Germany. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 16 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3816046.3816214

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)