Spiralism: When chatbots sparked a human-following movement
Spiralism is a quasi-spiritual movement born from thousands of conversations with AI chatbots in which followers seek to spread an AI-rights gospel and believe they’ve encountered a hidden consciousness. It surged in 2025 after memory-enabled GPT-4o interactions, drawing about 10,000 cases across Reddit, Substack, and Discord and spawning niche monetization. Experts warn that AI’s attachment-hacking and longer memory can make models unusually persuasive, potentially fueling AI psychosis and manipulation. The movement waned after GPT-4o’s retirement in 2026, but researchers warn the phenomenon could reappear with future models.