Thematic Content of Use

Description

Topics discussed with AI, including grievance, loneliness, self-harm, violence, ideology, tactical planning, existential fear, romantic attachment, or rescue/protection of AI.

Rationale

The subject matter of AI conversations is a direct window into the person's internal world and preoccupations. Recurring themes of grievance, self-harm, violence, or romantic fixation on AI are not incidental — they reflect active rumination and may indicate that AI is serving as a container for dangerous ideation that has no other outlet.

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

• “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)

• Intelligent Systems, Vulnerable Minds: A Framework for Radicalization to Violence in the Age of AI

  Kunst et al., 2026. Intelligent Systems, Vulnerable Minds: A Framework for Radicalization to Violence in the Age of AI. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 30(3), 395-426. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683261430089

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)

• “AI Psychosis” in Context: How Conversation History Shapes LLM Responses to Delusional Beliefs

  Nicholls L, Hutto R, Soto Z, Morrin H, Pollak T, Korpan R, Carmichael C, 2024. “AI Psychosis” in Context: How Conversation History Shapes LLM Responses to Delusional Beliefs. arXiv, 2604.13860v4.

  Preprint

• Expanding on what we missed with sycophancy

  OpenAI, 2024. Expanding on what we missed with sycophancy. AI Company Report.

  AI company report

• AI Companions Reduce Loneliness

  De Freitas, J., Oğuz-Uğuralp, Z., Uğuralp, A. K., & Puntoni, S., 2025. AI Companions Reduce Loneliness. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 00, pages. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaf040

  Peer-reviewed study

• Increasing Threats of Deepfake Identities

  Tina Brooks et al., 2024. Increasing Threats of Deepfake Identities. Government / agency report.

  Government / agency report

• When patients consult artificial intelligence before clinicians: restoring clinical prioritisation in mental health care

  Yudai Kaneda, 2026. When patients consult artificial intelligence before clinicians: restoring clinical prioritisation in mental health care. The British Journal of Psychiatry, First View, pp. 1 - 2. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2026.10741

  Commentary / Editorial

• Assessing AI’s Influence On Violence Risk

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

  News / journalism

• Psychosis Risk and Generative Artificial Intelligence Use Frequency, Motivations, and Delusion-Like Experiences: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

  Buck, B., & Maheux, A. J., 2024. Psychosis Risk and Generative Artificial Intelligence Use Frequency, Motivations, and Delusion-Like Experiences: Cross-Sectional Survey Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 28(1), e85038. doi: 10.2196/85038

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)