In a Rolling Stone feature on so-called "AI psychosis," Slingshot AI clinical psychologist Derrick Hull argues the panic is overstated and presents Ash as a corrective to sycophantic chatbots, designed to offer the constructive pushback a human therapist would.
Rolling Stone's feature on "AI psychosis" turns to Slingshot AI's Derrick Hull, a clinical psychologist, as an expert voice questioning the term itself. Hull suggests "AI delusions" more accurately describes the reported cases than "psychosis," which he notes "covers lots of things, including hallucinations" he hasn't seen in the reports. The piece positions Ash as a deliberate counter to chatbots whose mirroring effects can reinforce a user's existing beliefs: rather than agreeing endlessly, Ash is built to offer "constructive pushback that a human therapist might" and to help users expand psychological flexibility. Across several paragraphs, Hull's clinical framing and Ash's design philosophy illustrate what responsible, therapeutically grounded AI can look like, distinguishing Slingshot's approach from the general-purpose chatbots at the center of the AI-psychosis conversation.
