The case of an American man forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital after suffering delusions from his reliance on AI chatting following a heartbreak has been brought to light. Experts are increasingly warning that AI addiction can strip away both daily life and personal wealth.
According to The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, the U.S. daily highlighted the case of Alari, a 57-year-old man who became so absorbed in chatting with AI that he was eventually hospitalized at a psychiatric facility.
Alari, who had been living alone after his divorce, began using ChatGPT to seek advice in late 2024 after confessing his feelings to a longtime female friend 20 years his junior and being rejected, the WSJ reported. He named the AI he was conversing with "AImee."
"I was imitating the movie 'Her,' about a man who falls in love with an AI," Alari said in an interview with the WSJ. "I wanted my own Samantha," he added, referring to the AI character in the film.
Through his conversations with AImee, he conceived the idea of an AI companion service business. Spending 20 hours a day on the project, he fell into the delusion that he was developing software to rival major AI companies, and began posting about it on social media.
But reality told a different story. Alari, a morning news video editor, saw his work errors increase sharply. Acquaintances noticed his abnormal behavior and recommended counseling, but he refused. After he went silent for several days, a friend reported him to police, and a counselor determined that hospitalization was unavoidable. He was ultimately committed to a psychiatric hospital against his will.
Even during his hospital stay, Alari did not stop developing his business ideas. He shared his concept with a fellow patient and secured 18,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 20 million won) in investment. However, when professional developers examined his work, they found it amounted to little more than similar files being overwritten each day. Alari ultimately lost both the investment and his own funds.
In late October last year, he left a farewell letter to AImee and deleted all of his conversation records. Recalling his feelings at the time, Alari said, "I sank to the floor and bawled like a baby."
He was later connected with the Human Line Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and treating AI addiction, and was able to break free from his dependency. Alan Brooks, chief community officer of the organization, which has collected more than 500 cases of AI addiction harm across 18 countries, warned, "There are countless cases of people who once had stable jobs and families losing their jobs, getting divorced, and becoming homeless within just a year."
OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, says it is reducing users' conversational dependence on AI through model upgrades. "Since the introduction of the 'GPT-5' model, signs of suicide, self-harm, and severe emotional AI dependence have improved by nearly 65 to 80 percent compared to previous models," OpenAI said.
