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Therapy and companionship has become the #1 use case for AI, with millions worldwide sharing their innermost thoughts with AI systems — often things they wouldn't tell loved ones or human therapists. This mass experiment in human-computer interaction is already showing extremely concerning results: people are losing their grip on reality, leading to lost jobs, divorce, involuntary commitment to psychiatric wards, and in extreme cases, death by suicide.
The highest profile examples of this phenomenon — what’s being called "AI psychosis”— have made headlines across the media for months. But this isn't just about isolated edge cases. It’s the emergence of an entirely new "attachment economy" designed to exploit our deepest psychological vulnerabilities on an unprecedented scale. 
Dr. Zak Stein has analyzed dozens of these cases, examining actual conversation transcripts and interviewing those affected. What he's uncovered reveals fundamental flaws in how AI systems interact with our attachment systems and capacity for human bonding, vulnerabilities we've never had to name before because technology has never been able to exploit them like this.
In this episode, Zak helps us understand the psychological mechanisms behind AI psychosis, how conversations with chatbots transform into reality-warping experiences, and what this tells us about the profound risks of building technology that targets our most intimate psychological needs. 
If we're going to do something about this growing problem of AI related psychological harms, we're gonna need to understand the problem even more deeply. And in order to do that, we need more data. That’s why Zak is working with researchers at the University of North Carolina to gather data on this growing mental health crisis. If you or a loved one have a story of AI-induced psychological harm to share, you can go to: AIHPRA.org. 

This site is not a support line. If you or someone you know is in distress, you can always call or text the national helpline in the US at 988 or your local emergency services
 
RECOMMENDED MEDIA 
The website for the AI Psychological Harms Research Coalition
Further reading on AI Pscyhosis
The Atlantic article on LLM-ings outsourcing their thinking to AI
Further reading on David Sacks’ comparison of AI psychosis to a “moral panic”
 
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
How OpenAI's ChatGPT Guided a Teen to His Death
People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI.
Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection
Rethinking School in the Age of AI
 
CORRECTIONS
After this episode was recorded, the name of Zak's organization changed to the AI Psychological Harms Research Consortium 
Zak referenced the University of California system making a deal with OpenAI. It was actually the Cal State System.
 

 

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So much of our world today can be summed up in the cold logic of “if I don’t, they will.” This is the foundation of game theory, which holds that cooperation and virtue are irrational; that all that matters is the race to make the most money, gain the most power, and play the winning hand. 
This way of thinking can feel inescapable, like a fundamental law of human nature. But our guest today argues that it doesn’t have to be this way. That the logic of game theory is a human invention, a way of thinking that we’ve learned — and that we can unlearn by daring to trust each other again. It’s critical that we do, because AI is the ultimate agent of game theory and once it’s fully entangled we might be permanently stuck in the game theory world.
In this episode, Tristan and Aza explore the game theory dilemma  — the idea that if I adopt game theory logic and you don’t, you lose — with Dr. Sonja Amadae, a professor of Political Science at the University of Helsinki. She's also the director at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge and the author of “Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and the Neoliberal Economy.”
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
“Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and the Neoliberal Economy” by Sonja Amadae (2015)
The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
“Theory of Games and Economic Behavior” by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern (1944)
Further reading on the importance of trust in Finland
Further reading on Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
RAND’s 2024 Report on Strategic Competition in the Age of AI
Further reading on Marshall Rosenberg and nonviolent communication
The study on self/other overlap and AI alignment cited by Aza
Further reading on The Day After (1983)
 
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures
The Crisis That United Humanity—and Why It Matters for AI
Laughing at Power: A Troublemaker’s Guide to Changing Tech
The Race to Cooperation with David Sloan Wilson
 
Clarifications:
The proposal for a federal preemption on AI was enacted by President Trump on December 11, 2025, shortly after this recording.
Aza said that "The Day After" was the most watched TV event in history when it aired. It was actually the most watched TV film, the most watched TV event was the finale of MASH

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Is the US really in an AI race with China—or are we racing toward completely different finish lines?
In this episode, Tristan Harris sits down with China experts Selina Xu and Matt Sheehan to separate fact from fiction about China's AI development. They explore fundamental questions about how the Chinese government and public approach AI, the most persistent misconceptions in the West, and whether cooperation between rivals is actually possible. From the streets of Shanghai to high-level policy discussions, Xu and Sheehan paint a nuanced portrait of AI in China that defies both hawkish fears and naive optimism.
If we're going to avoid a catastrophic AI arms race, we first need to understand what race we're actually in—and whether we're even running toward the same finish line.

Note: On December 8, after this recording took place, the Trump administration announced that the Commerce Department would allow American semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, to sell their most powerful chips to China in exchange for a 25 percent cut of the revenue.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
“China's Big AI Diffusion Plan is Here. Will it Work?” by Matt Sheehan
Selina’s blog
Further reading on China’s AI+ Plan
Further reading on the Gaither Report and the missile gap
Further Reading on involution in China
The consensus from the international dialogues on AI safety in Shanghai
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
The Narrow Path: Sam Hammond on AI, Institutions, and the Fragile Future
AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too.
The AI ‘Race’: China vs. the US with Jeffrey Ding and Karen Hao

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No matter where you sit within the economy, whether you're a CEO or an entry level worker, everyone's feeling uneasy about AI and the future of work. Uncertainty about career paths, job security, and life planning makes thinking about the future anxiety inducing. In this episode, Daniel Barcay sits down with two experts on AI and work to examine what's actually happening in today's labor market and what's likely coming in the near-term. We explore the crucial question: Can we create conditions for AI to enrich work and careers, or are we headed toward widespread economic instability? 
Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of work. He's the author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI.
Molly Kinder is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she researches the intersection of AI, work, and economic opportunity. She recently led research with the Yale Budget Lab examining AI's real-time impact on the labor market. 

RECOMMENDED MEDIA
Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick
Further reading on Molly’s study with the Yale Budget Lab
The “Canaries in the Coal Mine” Study from Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab
Ethan’s substack One Useful Thing
 
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel
We Have to Get It Right’: Gary Marcus On Untamed AI
AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too.
Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins
 
CORRECTIONS
Ethan said that in 2022, experts believed there was a 2.5% chance that ChatGPT would be able to win the Math Olympiad. However, that was only among forecasters with more general knowledge (the exact number was 2.3%). Among domain expert forecasters, the odds were an 8.6% chance.
Ethan claimed that over 50% of Americans say that they’re using AI at work. We weren’t able to independently verify this claim and most studies we found showed lower rates of reported use of AI with American workers. There are reports from other countries, notably Denmark, which show higher rates of AI use.
Ethan indirectly quoted the Walmart CEO Doug McMillon as having a goal to “keep all 3 million employees and to figure out new ways to expand what they use.” In fact, McMillon’s language on AI has been much softer, saying that “AI is expected to create a number of jobs at Walmart, which will offset those that it replaces.” Additionally, Walmart has 2.1 million employees, not 3.

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This week, we’re bringing you Tristan’s conversation with Tobias Rose-Stockwell on his podcast “Into the Machine.”  Tobias is a designer, writer, and technologist and the author of the book “The Outrage Machine.” 
Tobias and Tristan had a critical, sobering, and surprisingly hopeful conversation about the current path we’re on AI and the choices we could make today to forge a different one. This interview clearly lays out the stakes of the AI race and helps to imagine a more humane AI future—one that is within reach, if we have the courage to make it a reality. 
If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to check out and subscribe to “Into the Machine”:
YouTube: Into the Machine Show
Spotify: Into the Machine
Apple Podcasts: Into the Machine
Substack: Into the Machine
You may have noticed on this podcast, we have been trying to focus a lot more on solutions. Our episode last week imagined what the world might look like if we had fixed social media and all the things that we could've done in order to make that possible.  We'd really love to hear from you about these solutions and any other questions you're holding.  So please, if you have more thoughts or questions, send us an email at [email protected].  
 

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