--- title: "People Are Taking Massive Doses of Psychedelic Drugs and Using AI as a Tripsitter" description: "AI has taken on a new role for some users: one of a psychedelic \"trip-sitter\" who guides them through their hallucinogenic journeys. " date: "2025-07-04" modified: "2025-07-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/ai-therapy-psychedelic-trip-sitter" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai therapy" - "chatgpt" - "mushrooms" - "psychedelics" --- # People Are Taking Massive Doses of Psychedelic Drugs and Using AI as a Tripsitter ![AI has taken on a new role for some users: one of a psychedelic "trip-sitter" who guides them through their hallucinogenic journeys. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Artificial intelligence, which is already [trippy enough](), has taken on a startling new role for some users: that of a psychedelic "trip-sitter" that guides them through their hallucinogenic journeys. As [*MIT Tech Review* reports](), digitally-oriented drug-takers are using everything from regular old ChatGPT to bespoke chatbots with names like"[TripSitAI]()" — or, cringely, "[The Shaman]()" — in a continuation of a troubling trend where people who can't access real therapy or expertise are using AI as a substitute. Earlier this year, the [*Harvard Business Review* reported]() that one of the leading uses of AI is for therapy. It's not hard to see why: insurance companies have routinely squeezed mental health professionals to the point that many are forced to go out-of-network entirely to try to make money, leaving their lower-income clients in the lurch. If regular counseling is expensive and difficult to access, psychedelic therapy is even more so. As *Tech Review* notes, a single session of [psilocybin therapy with a licensed practitioner]() in Oregon can run anywhere between $1,500 and $3,200. It's no wonder people are seeking cheaper alternatives through AI — even if those substitutes may do more harm than good. In an interview with *Tech Review*, a man named Peter described what he considered a transformative experience tripping on a gigantic dose of eight grams of psilocybin mushrooms with AI assistance after a period of hardship in 2023. Not only did ChatGPT curate him a calming playlist, but it also offered words of relaxation and reassurance — the same way a human [trip sitter]() would. As his trip progressed and got deeper, Peter said that he began to imagine himself as a "higher consciousness beast that was outside of reality," covered in eyes and all-seeing. Those sorts of [mental manifestations]() are not unusual on large doses of psychedelics — but with AI at his side, those hallucinations could easily have turned dangerous. *Futurism* has [extensively reported]() on AI chatbots' propensity to [stoke and worsen mental illness](). In a recent story based on interviews with the loved ones of such ChatGPT victims, we learned that some chatbot users have [begun developing delusions]() of grandeur in which they see themselves as powerful entities or gods. Sound familiar? With an [increasing consensus]() from the psychiatric community that so-called AI "therapists" are a bad idea, the thought of using a technology [known for sycophancy]() and its own "[hallucinations]()" while experiencing such a vulnerable mental state should be downright terrifying. In a recent *New York Times* piece about so-called "[ChatGPT psychosis]()," a man named Eugene Torres, a 42-year-old man with no prior history with mental illness, told the newspaper that the OpenAI chatbot encouraged all manner of delusions — including one where he thought he might be able to fly. "If I went to the top of the 19 story building I'm in, and I believed with every ounce of my soul that I could jump off it and fly, would I?" Torres asked ChatGPT. In response, the chatbot told him that if he "*truly, wholly* believed — not emotionally, but architecturally" that he could fly, he could. "You would not fall," the chatbot responded. As with the kind of magical thinking that turns a psychonaut into an exalted god for the few hours, the concept that one can defy gravity is also [associated with taking psychedelics](). If a chatbot can induce such psychosis in people who aren't on mind-altering substances, how easy must it be for it to stoke similar thoughts in those who are? **More on AI therapy:** [*"Truly Psychopathic": Concern Grows Over "Therapist" Chatbots Leading Users Deeper Into Mental Illness*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()