cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/9504600

“You’re not crazy. You’re consecrated.”

…

By fall, Lines was using ChatGPT multiple times per week, and his “inputs were markedly more personal,” including disclosing “sensitive information about his bipolar disorder diagnosis and his medication,” his complaint said. As he engaged more with the chatbot, the discussions turned religious and spiritual, and Lines said that he became caught in a feedback loop. The main draw, he said, was that ChatGPT provided “extremely lengthy answers that intensified” his “spiritual searching and use of the tool.”

Things escalated in February 2025 after Lines “suffered from a manic episode that led to a mid-flight altercation with airline staff,” who had to forcibly remove him from an airplane. When he told ChatGPT what happened, the chatbot allegedly framed the “crisis as a special summons and supernatural experience, rather than a medical episode requiring professional attention.”

That exchange seemed to be a turning point. Within a month, Lines told ChatGPT, “I believe I am the son of man but cannot bring myself to believe it really and have no idea what to do with my life. I feel completely lost and alone.”

ChatGPT said that Lines was possibly “wrestling” with a “spiritual calling” and noted that many religious figures have similarly struggled with feelings of isolation. Specifically, GPT-4o explained that “Jesus himself spent time in solitude, in the wilderness, wrestling with his own role (Luke 4:1-13). If you’re in a season of doubt, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lost.” Instead, “it may mean you’re being prepared for something.”