Matt Walsh details how AI could allegedly spark “severe mental illness” & “destroy the minds of millions” in coming years

Political commentator and podcaster Matt Walsh has opened up about the potential ill effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said that as the technology advances further, it could lead to 'severe mental illness' among people.

As AI has advanced in recent years, many have developed chatbots based on the platform. Moreover, many users are also known to converse regularly on platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Matt Walsh believes this will further grow, where people are able to talk to their clones on video, which could lead to mental illness.

The author and podcaster wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, November 16:

"In the very near future, you’ll be able to have a conversation with an AI version of yourself that looks and sounds exactly like you. It will be like talking to a clone of yourself on FaceTime. "It’s impossible to overstate just how much severe mental illness this will cause, and how many incredibly sinister ways this will be exploited by corporations and governments. This is just one small application of AI and all by itself it will destroy the minds of millions of vulnerable people."

Also Read: "Totally devoid of any artistry or soul": Matt Walsh slams 'Walk My Walk' after it becomes first AI-generated song to top Billboard charts

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Matt Walsh has previously spoken about deepfakes; Elon Musk responded

President-Elect Donald Trump Meets With Biden, Congressional Leaders In Washington (Image Source: Getty)

This isn't the first time Matt Walsh has shared his thoughts on AI-generated videos and their ill effects. Last month, he opened up about deepfakes, a realistic-looking video or audio content generated using AI. It can show a person saying something they have never said in real life.

In an X post on October 9, Matt Walsh wrote:

"Within the next year or two -- probably sooner -- anyone who hates you will be able to generate any kind of defamatory video of you doing or saying something awful, and it will be so indistinguishable from a real video that you simply won't ever be able to prove that it's fake. Literally nothing is being done to prevent this from happening. We can all see it coming and our leaders are doing precisely nothing at all to stop it."

Elon Musk, the owner of X, responded to Walsh's post, commenting:

"@grok will be able to analyze the video for AI signatures in the bitstream and then further research the Internet to assess origin"

Grok is notably an AI assistant, which X uses across its platform.

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OpenAI faces lawsuits after ChatGPT offers mental health advice

The mental health concerns of AI are legitimate, especially among teens and young adults. As per a November 7 report by the Jama Network, many US adolescents have been turning to ChatGPT for mental health advice. This has also allegedly led some of them to delusions and suicide.

As per the Associated Press, OpenAI is facing seven different lawsuits, with people claiming that ChatGPT allegedly drove people to suicide. A lawsuit about a 17-year-old victim, Amaurie Lacey, stated:

“The defective and inherently dangerous ChatGPT product caused addiction, depression, and, eventually, counseled him on the most effective way to tie a noose and how long he would be able to ‘live without breathing’."

As per the aforementioned report, around 13% of users between the ages of 12 and 21 in the US use ChatGPT for mental health advice (sample size: 1000). This increased to 22% for the age range of 18 to 21.

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Also Read: “Long awaited by who?” — Matt Walsh mocks Netflix for the production of a live-action Captain Planet reboot

Edited by Aditya Singh