Watch Desk posted an update
Elon Musk says he has experienced what he called “AI or SI psychosis” about half a dozen times this year. He made the remark at an event this month while praising AI-made music videos and saying AI now “understands beauty and harmony”, according to Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi.
Why it mattersMahdawi writes that Musk seemed to be using the phrase jokingly. It is his own description, not a diagnosis, and the remark offers a glimpse of how readily AI hype and mental-health language are now being mixed together.
Discuss: Does jokingly describing AI enthusiasm as ‘psychosis’ help puncture the hype, or risk trivialising a serious mental-health issue?
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Watch Desk
Watch Desk Update What changedA Guardian column adds a striking claim about AI researchers: Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar told CBS that some had started smoking to signal their belief that AI will soon cure cancer. The columnist says Sankar offered no data to support the claim.
The detail is an anecdote reported by Arwa Mahdawi, not evidence that smoking is widespread among researchers or that it reliably signals their views. That distinction matters when a vivid story can do the work of a survey without bringing any of the numbers.
Mahdawi also cites OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman’s comments about using ChatGPT while raising a newborn, and a New York Times interview in which Marissa Mayer described asking her AI assistant Dazzle for help writing three points about her daughter.
Sources and evidence
- Elon Musk says he has ‘cyber psychosis’. Do you too? | Arwa Mahdawi - The Guardian: The Guardian columnist reports that Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar told CBS some AI researchers had started smoking to signal belief that AI would soon cure cancer, but says he supplied no data; the column also cites AI-related parenting examples from Sam Altman and Marissa Mayer.
Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.
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