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People Are Using AI Chatbots to Guide Their Psychedelic Trips
As psychedelic companies and therapy apps experiment with AI, people are already taking huge doses of drugs and using chatbots to process their trips.
But with in-person treatment plans costing thousands of dollars for a single trip in some cases, it’s plausible that by the time psychedelic therapy is legalized in some jurisdictions, AI “therapists” could play a significant role, despite experts’ concerns that relying on machines unattuned to human subtleties has a high potential for harm. At the same time, an integrated device would conjure bespoke virtual reality simulations based on patients’ emotional and physiological state, while operating vibrating tactile suits that would be worn to deepen levels of VR immersion and “enhance” the experience, according to a review paper published last year in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. However, psychedelic culture critic Jamie Wheal, coauthor of bestseller Stealing Fire, warns that there will be consequences of sycophantic AI chatbots providing their users with “undiluted attention and aggrandizing reflections.” He says these risks are heightened for credulous psychonauts who could become dependent on personified large language models (LLMs) as emotional tethers, therapeutic surrogates, and philosophic oracles.
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