Psychosis
In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum built ELIZA, the world's first chatbot. He spent the next forty years of his life trying to dismantle it.
I think I'm losing my mind.
I won't tell anyone if you don't…
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Mindful MachinesMay 8, 2026
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Let your AI read the research
Every note, source, and reading list behind this film, handed to the assistant you already use. Ask it anything and it answers from the actual sources.
Did ELIZA ever talk to another chatbot?
1972, over ARPANET — it argued with PARRY, a simulated paranoid. PARRY called it a nag; ELIZA billed it $399.29.
Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · GrokConnect your AI
sources
Reference
- Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation (1976)Joseph Weizenbaum ↗
- ELIZA — beginning of the era of artificial intelligenceEtherealcreation ↗
- How people are really using gen AI in 2025Harvard Business Review ↗
- Carl Sagan, "In Praise of Robots," Natural History (Jan 1975)ERIC ↗
- ELIZA — a JavaScript implementation you can talk tomasswerk.at ↗
- How to escape the inner zombie and come back to lifeHazel Gale ↗
Reporting
- Parents of a suicide victim testify on AI chatbot dangersSenate Judiciary Hearing ↗
- Concern over AI psychosis grows as some dissociate from reality after heavy AI useNBC News ↗
- Understanding AI psychosisCBS News ↗
- Hear from a psychiatrist who saw a dozen people spiral after AI connectionsCNN ↗
- What to know about AI psychosis from talking to chatbotsPBS News Hour ↗
- Break with reality: AI psychosis raises concerns over tech's influence on mental healthFox News ↗
Interviews
Archival & historical
film clips
- The Return of the Living Dead1985
- Night of the Living Dead1990
- Shaun of the Dead2004
- Day of the Dead2008
- Black Mirror: Be Right Back2013
scorein order of appearance
- Like a GhostAlexis Smith, Joe Henson
- Half Light 2Matt Hill
- From Northern Lands 3Paul Mottram
- Why Not 7Paul Mottram
- About Town 3Paul Mottram
- Passing TimePaul Mottram
- The Enemy WithinLuke Richards
- Put Yourself Back TogetherLuke Richards
- Clues Clues CluesLuke Richards
- Machines Are My Only FriendsLuke Richards
- Wow and FlutterGeorge Georgia
- A Sapient SingularityNoah Sorota
- MyriadPaul Mottram
- The FearLuke Richards
- The Calm 4Luke Richards
- Dust to DustLuke Richards
- Faded MemoriesLuke Richards
- ZombieELEW
- Descending into the AbyssLuke Richards
- Finding the BodiesLuke Richards
- SynchronicityJoe Henson, Alexis Smith
- Binary DreamingLuke Richards
- The GunmanLuke Richards
- You Cannot Escape Your PastLuke Richards
- The Calm 2Luke Richards
- Something in the ShadowsLuke Richards
- Heroic JourneyPaul Mottram
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