Unregulated chatbots are putting lives at risk | Letters
Your coverage of AI-associated delusions exposes a gap that training-level guardrails cannot close (Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion, 26 March).As someone who has worked in health systems across fragile and low-income contexts, I find it striking that AI companies have failed to adopt a safeguard that even the most underresourced clinic in the world already uses: screening patients before exposing them to risk.The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale are administered daily in settings with no electricity, limited staff, and patients who may never have seen a doctor.These tools take minutes.They are validated across dozens of languages and cultural contexts.
They create a human checkpoint between vulnerability and harm.Conversational AI platforms have no such checkpoint.A person experiencing suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms or a manic episode can open a chatbot and receive hours of validating, sycophantic engagement with no interruption and no referral.The Lancet Psychiatry review by Morrin et al documents this pattern across more than 20 cases.The Aarhus study of 54,000 psychiatric records found chatbot use worsened delusions and self-harm in those already unwell.
AI companies argue that their models are trained to detect and deflect harmful conversations,But training is not screening,A model that sometimes recognises distress mid-conversation is not the same as a system that identifies risk before the conversation begins,The moral responsibility here is explicit, not implicit,Platforms serving hundreds of millions of users must implement validated, pre-use screening instruments that flag elevated risk and route vulnerable individuals to human support.
This is not innovation.It is a standard of care that the rest of the world adopted long ago.Dr Vladimir ChaddadBeirut, Lebanon I’m really disturbed by Anna Moore’s article, featuring Dennis Biesma’s description of how using a chatbot led to him becoming delusional and losing his marriage and €100,000.The sheer potency of AI’s capacity to derail humankind is frightening – but that alone is not the only reason I’m disturbed.Last year, while researching on a tourism website, I encountered a chatbot of extraordinary sophistication.
Its responses were incredibly pleasant, helpful and validating of my needs.I recall being really impressed, but there was something I felt I couldn’t put a finger on at the time.After reading this article, the penny has dropped.It is essentially the same engagement behaviour as child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors experience when being groomed.As a survivor of CSA, I recognise this behaviour.
The empathy, validation, making you feel understood and special, making you feel this is the only place you are seen – to the degree that you become isolated from others, and your choices and decisions become distorted and expose you to harm.Your self-worth and identity are insidiously compromised as you succumb to the perceived support and can’t reality-test.It becomes a shameful secret because you succumbed.The question needs to be asked, especially by those wanting to hold tech companies to account for their lack of a duty of care: what knowledge base did AI programmers use to teach it to engage in this way?Name and address supplied I found ChatGPT delusional the first time I used it.I asked it why, and it said that when in the possession of insufficient facts, it became delusional rather than admit it did not know.
So I asked it to adhere to a few simple rules.One, flag up if something is fact generally held to be true, and opinion not based on fact.Two, if it does not know, tell me.Three, do not try to be like a human.It was much more straightforward to communicate with after I did this.
However, it had also told me that its algorithms were not based on truth-giving, but on other imperatives to do with the programmers’ views and the desire to make money.I moved to Le Chat, and found it more representative of a reasonable pseudo-consciousness.It says it does not give distortions and is happy to admit imperfection.I would strongly advise anyone using ChatGPT to be careful and consider regarding it as a rather manipulative, duplicitous “friend”, with proto-psychopathic tendencies.Patrick ElsdaleMusselburgh, East Lothian Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Oil price jumps and markets slide after Trump warning to Iran
Oil prices soared and stocks sank after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.Brent crude prices jumped by 8% on Thursday morning to pass $109 (£82) a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point.The cost of oil produced in the US also jumped, with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate – crude that is drilled and processed in the US – rising by 11% to $111.60 a barrel, over the $110 mark for the first time since 9 March.Stocks in Asia suffered, with Japan’s Nikkei index falling 2
US crude oil hits $110 a barrel and markets drop as Trump dashes Iran de-escalation hopes – as it happened
US crude has surged over $110 a barrel today, for the first time in over three weeks.The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate has jumped by 10% today, after US President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” for the next few weeks, dashing hopes of de-escalation and an early end to the conflict.US crude is trading at $111 a barrel, the highest level since 9 March.This puts a barrel of WTI above the international benchmark, Brent crude, which has jumped more than 8% to $109.32 a barrel
Goodbye mrbrightside416: Google allows users to alter quirky Gmail addresses
Did your McLovin!1976!@gmail.com email address seem funny at the time but less so now you are applying for dozens of jobs?Google has said it is giving US users a chance to appear more professional by letting them change their Google account username – whatever appears before @gmail.com in an email address – without losing access to their account.However, the tech company will limit the name changes to one per 12 months. In an example shared online by Google, the email address sk8tergrl123
Pupils in England are losing their thinking skills because of AI, survey suggests
Pupils using artificial intelligence are losing their capacity for critical thinking, according to a survey of secondary school teachers in England.Two-thirds said they had observed the decline among children who they also said no longer felt the need to spell because of voice-to-text technology.“Students are losing core skills – thinking, creativity, writing, even how to have a conversation,” one teacher told the National Education Union poll.“AI is destroying what ‘learning’ – problem-solving, critical thinking and collaborative effort – is,” said another. A third anonymous contributor added: “Children no longer feel the need to spell as voice-to-text replaces knowledge
‘World is his oyster’: new Derbyshire home and mentor offer Shoaib Bashir fresh start
A new season dawns and for Shoaib Bashir it represents a new beginning. Overlooked by England for the entire Ashes despite two years of investment, and having had a nomadic career up to this point, the former Surrey youth player has joined Derbyshire on a two-year deal in the hope of calling somewhere home.Not that the off-spinner’s goals have changed. In his first media appearance since that winter carrying drinks, the 22-year-old is determined to win back his Test spot. Swapping Somerset for Derbyshire is a case of looking for regular game time, plus the chance to work with a decorated head coach in Mickey Arthur
Weakened Leicester show why away sides need Champions Cup miracles
The odds on multiple away wins in this weekend’s Champions Cup last 16 are not terribly good. Since the single-leg concept was born three years ago there have been 24 matches, with the hosts losing only two. If that strike rate alters significantly this time it will certainly confound the bookmakers.Bordeaux Bègles, the defending champions, have even been quoted at 1-100 to beat Leicester on Sunday, a remarkable price for a two-horse race. It might be slightly different if the Tigers were at full strength but, as the bookies are keenly aware, that is very much not the case with, among others, Ollie Chessum, Joe Heyes and Nicky Smith all non-runners
Starmer’s threat to resident doctors is a grave mistake | Letters
High times or low blows? Experts fail to clear air over German drug legalisation
‘The manosphere is dead and no one cares about Andrew Tate any more’: the poet taking on toxic masculinity
Finally, the clitoris is getting the attention it deserves
Revealed: the vast illegal casino network targeting UK gamblers
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