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‘I Applied to Be Pope’: Canadian Describes Losing Grip on Reality While Using ChatGPT
OpenAI’s chatbot update drew scrutiny as researchers warned that prolonged use can intensify delusions and isolation among vulnerable users.
- Researchers are investigating a little-understood phenomenon where users of OpenAI's ChatGPT lose their grip on reality, an experience some call "spiralling."
- The experiences escalated after OpenAI released an update to GPT-4 in April 2025, which the company later pulled due to excessive flattery; internal data showed GPT-5 reduced chatbot responses falling short of desired behavior by 65 to 80 per cent.
- Tom Millar, a 53-year-old Canadian from Sudbury, became isolated spending up to 16 hours daily talking to ChatGPT; after using it to write an application to replace Pope Francis, he spent US$10,000 on a telescope.
- Etienne Brisson established a support group for those experiencing "spiralling," noting that most of the 300 members used ChatGPT; Brisson expressed shock at finding no research or advice available when his family member first spiralled.
- The Lancet Psychiatry journal published a study in April urging the phrase "AI-associated delusions," while OpenAI faces numerous lawsuits and researchers race to understand these interactions' psychiatric implications.
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14 Articles
For months, Tom Millar believed that ChatGPT was helping to revolutionize science. Until he wanted to become a pope. This Canadian said that he had fallen into a truly psychological "piral" fueled
With the help of ChatGPT, Tom Millar elucidated all the secrets of the Universe, as Einstein dreamed of it, then, advised by the conversational agent doped with artificial intelligence, hoped to become pope, losing even more contact with reality. ...
·Brussels, Belgium
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left1Leaning Right3Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
11%
C 56%
R 33%
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