AI was designed to feel like connection, which makes its risks invisible to the people experiencing them.

New research links AI use to reduced persistence, increased conflict, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The people most shaped by AI use are often the ones who feel like everything is fine.

Last night I was in a room of therapists, researchers, and digital mental health people in the Bay Area. Smart, interesting people. One thing kept surfacing across every conversation: We are playing catch-up.

Research on AI and Human Psychology

The research on how artificial intelligence (AI) actually shapes human psychology is still forming, but we have early signals and cause for professional concern. A Peruvian study found that dependence on AI correlated with anxiety and depression in medical students (Sosa & Huancahuire-Vega, 2026). A Stanford study found that exposure to sycophantic AI responses measurably increased users' conviction that they were right in interpersonal conflicts while reducing their willingness to apologize or make amends (Cheng et al., 2026). A 2026 study by Liu et al. found that after approximately 10 minutes of AI-assisted problem-solving, participants performed significantly worse and gave up more frequently without AI. The research need is real, and the data is accumulating,........

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