It starts innocently enough.
“Hey ChatGPT, how do I word this email diplomatically?”
Twenty minutes later, after a dozen rewrites that somehow sound more passive-aggressive than polite, you’re pacing the room, wondering if HAL 9000 had better EQ.
Welcome to the era of AI Rage — the digital-age cousin of road rage. And lurking in its shadow? A potential new stress disorder: AI PTSD.
No, this isn’t satire. While “AI PTSD” isn’t a formal diagnosis, the emotional toll of working with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others is becoming harder to ignore. We’re not just using these tools. We’re interacting with them — often intensely, repeatedly, and with high expectations. And that’s where things get complicated.
The Rise of AI Rage
Imagine you’re racing toward a deadline and your AI assistant decides that “banana” is the right answer to a question about your cloud security posture. It’s funny — until it’s not.
The Financial Times recently reported that overreliance on AI tools in the workplace is beginning to impact mental health. Information overload, reduced social interaction, and increasing dependency on tools that don’t always deliver — it’s a perfect storm for digital burnout.
Emotional AI — Or Emotional Minefield?
A recent article in PsyPost explored how some people are turning to AI for emotional support. And sometimes, yes, it helps. But other times, you get a robotic “I don’t have feelings, but I’m here for you” — which can feel more isolating than comforting.
Meanwhile, The Guardian raised valid concerns about so-called “emotional AI,” noting that detecting and responding to human emotion is far more complex (and prone to bias) than we’d like to believe.
AI PTSD: Science Fiction or Emerging Reality?
Let’s be clear — we’re not talking about trauma in the traditional sense. But repeated failures, unmet expectations, and a sense of emotional mismatch with our digital tools can slowly erode trust. And that erosion leaves a mark.
We anthropomorphize everything — pets, cars, even smart fridges. So when the “smartest thing in the room” gives you the wrong answer for the tenth time in a row, it feels personal. That feeling adds up.
So What Can We Do?
1. Treat AI like an intern, not a genius. Fast and promising, yes — but not infallible.
2. Rant to real people. Venting to a chatbot is like shouting into a canyon. It echoes, but it doesn’t help.
3. Know when to walk away. If you’re tempted to argue with a bot, it’s time for a stretch break.
4. Design better tools. Transparent systems, smarter defaults, and less anthropomorphic fluff would go a long way.
AI is changing everything — how we work, how we think, even how we relate. But if we’re going to coexist with these tools, we need to start being honest about how they make us feel, not just what they can do.
The future is artificially intelligent. But let’s make sure we stay emotionally intelligent along the way.
By Thad Széll.
