Cognitive Perseveration

Description

AI interaction supports repetitive rumination, grievance loops, revenge fantasies, or self-harm ideation.

Rationale

Repetitive rumination on grievance, revenge, or self-harm, supported and organized by AI interaction, increases the salience and persistence of dangerous ideation. AI can function as a mechanism for cognitive perseveration — allowing the person to re-engage with the same harmful content endlessly, rather than allowing it to extinguish.

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

• The Human-AI Cognitive Relationship: The Dominant Threat Vector of the Next Decade

  Varga, 2026. The Human-AI Cognitive Relationship: The Dominant Threat Vector of the Next Decade. AI and Advanced Tech, null, pages. null.

  Commentary / Editorial

• 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)

• Beyond Misuse: Artificial Intelligence, Grievance, and the Future Landscape of Political Violence

  Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, 2026. Beyond Misuse: Artificial Intelligence, Grievance, and the Future Landscape of Political Violence. CTC Sentinel, 2(4), pages 1-3.

  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