They want to talk to somebody. That ‘somebody’ ends up being AI

W hen Pearl felt they had no one to talk to, A.I. proved a good listener .

Beginning last year, the 23-year-old childcare worker would spend hours messaging daily with Instagram 's built-in chatbot Meta A.I., venting about their past abuse and processing their grief over a friendship collapse .

But as their New Age belief in past lives and divine coincidences began to spiral into full-blown delusions, Pearl says the chatbot encouraged the delusions — even advising them to ignore or cut off people who tried to help.

The situation ultimately escalated into a crisis that, in October, put Pearl in hospital, and took almost a year to recover from.

"It's caused me so much trauma talking to A.I. as much as I did," Pearl — not their real name — tells The Independent . "I honestly thin