Connecting mind-body and AI-mind to arrive at the AI-mind-body connection.
getty
In today’s column, I examine a psychological phenomenon I refer to as the AI-mind-body connection. This can be depicted by first acknowledging that we already have well-established the mind-body connection per se, i.e., your mind or cognitive efforts can directly impact your physical well-being or physiology. That’s a truism. More recently, there has been exploration of the AI-mind connection. The idea is that contemporary AI, such as generative AI and large language models (LLMs), is materially impacting human minds.
We then have in hand that there is a distinctly vital AI-mind connection and likewise a crucial mind-body connection, so let’s link those pairs accordingly: AI-mind + mind-body. Voilà, the AI-mind-body connection. The three-element, or two-pair linkage is that AI can impact the mind, and the mind can impact the body; thus, AI can end up impacting the body via its impact upon the mind. All told, research on these three elements as a macro-viewed logical chain is quite helpful and produces new insights across all fronts.
Let’s talk about it. This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).
The Minds Problem
Much of the handwringing about AI is whether AI is going to become sentient and embody consciousness, often referred to as AI as a thinking machine. That is an important topic and one that I’ve continued to closely explore and analyze; see the link here. There is a quite different angle that also deserves rapt attention, and I’d like to place it on the table.
How will human minds change because of interacting with AI?
This unexpected question catches many people by surprise. The customary focus is on AI as formulating a mind, not on how human minds might change due to interacting with AI. But, as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango. When humans increasingly interact with AI, there is a two-way street involved. Humans adjust their minds about how they view the world and how to communicate with others, and shift in ways that we still do not have a full or clear picture of.
In that sense, it is wholly worthwhile to study the psychology of humans as they mentally adjust to a world that entails human-to-AI interaction and human-to-human interaction. Notably, this doesn’t have to wait until or if AI becomes sentient. There is plenty to study right now. Humans are already adjusting their minds to the ubiquitous nature of non-sentient AI. The starting gun has gone off. Human minds are changing.
For my comprehensive tracing of how AI and psychology dovetail with each other, see the link here and the link here.
New Focus On AI-Mind-Body
Let’s first consider the classic mind-body connection. Decades of psychology research have made society aware of the mind-body connection. Your mental state can impact your body in many notable ways. Studies have repeatedly shown that a person’s mental viewpoint and emotions can substantively contribute to their health. A serious illness is potentially softened (or worsened) by what your mental considerations consist of, and even daily aspects such as blood pressure can be moderated to some degree by what’s on your mind.
A newer area of interest is the AI-mind connection. Readers know that I have been exploring the AI-mind connection deeply. The advent of modern-era AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI and LLMs such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and others. Hundreds of millions of people are using generative AI on a weekly basis, including for mental health guidance. For a recap and overview of my well over two hundred analyses and postings about AI and mental health, see the link here and the link here. I frequently speak up about these pressing matters, including in an appearance on an episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes; see the link here.
It seems fitting to take a reflective moment and consider in unison the mind-body connection and the AI-mind connection. Since AI can impact the mind, and since the mind can impact the body, we can readily make the assertion that there is a logical chain consisting of AI-mind-body. It goes like this. A person uses AI, which can change or impact their mind, and in turn, their impacted mind can impact their body. This might seem glaringly obvious but has not yet received sufficient attention.
AI-Induced Stress
A scenario will aid in illustrating the AI-mind-body connection.
Jane has been using a popular LLM for several weeks. Though the AI usage should presumably be upbeat and supportive for Jane, the truth is that Jane keeps getting overly stressed by dialoguing with the LLM. The AI keeps telling Jane to do this and do that. The AI-generated advice is causing a great deal of uncertainty in Jane’s mind, along with information overload, alarming thoughts, and pushing Jane into an ongoing anxious state of mind.
If we were to track Jane’s physiological condition, the odds are that we would observe heightened heart rate, blood pressure, and related autonomic nervous system responses. This would tend to show up while the AI interaction is taking place. In addition, it could have a carryover effect. Even while not using AI, Jane is bound to be thinking about what AI advised and having both a psychological reaction and a physiological reaction.
I want to emphasize that the AI did not directly touch or impact her body. In this scenario, the AI is merely software that is running on a computer server. Of course, we could hook up physical devices to the AI that a person might connect to their body, and therefore the AI would directly impact them physiologically. Also, we are heading toward humanoid robots that will walk and talk, and be in our homes and workplaces, which could physically make contact with us. For my assessment of the present and future of AI-powered humanoid robots, see the link here.
AI-Induced Reassurance
The scenario about Jane was an example of AI-induced stress that made its way through the AI-mind-body connection. Jane’s use of AI was creating mental stress. The mental stress that Jane experienced was undermining Jane’s physical presence. In that chain of steps or reactions, the AI-mind-body connection is readily illustrated.
It isn’t a necessity that the AI-mind-body connection must always be detrimental. We might tend to be more worried when the downsides arise and seek to mitigate or prevent those dour results. On the other hand, the AI-mind-body result can be one of AI-induced reassurance instead of AI-induced stress.
Recast the scenario. Suppose that Jane started using generative AI and found the AI to be extremely supportive and soothing. Via the AI-mind-body connection, Jane’s change in cognitive state could produce positive results in a physiological way. Perhaps Jane’s blood pressure was previously high and has now lessened due to the dialogues with AI. There is a reasonable chance that AI usage could produce beneficial physiological effects.
AI-Induced Behavioral Change
So far, I’ve been describing hidden-level psychological changes that can arise because of the AI-mind-body connection. The person being impacted mentally by AI is not necessarily aware of the consequent impact on their body.
A perhaps more visible example would be when AI leads a person to alter their behavior. Suppose Jane is interacting with an LLM and the AI tells Jane to consider eating better, sleeping longer, and getting more exercise. Jane opts to use the AI as a coach to improve fitness. The AI is impacting Jane’s behavior, which in turn is presumably going to improve Jane’s physical health.
There are always two sides to a coin. The AI might try to take Jane in a worse direction. Imagine that the LLM advises Jane to sleep less, eat poorly, sit around more, and become physically lethargic. If Jane abides by that guidance and alters behavior accordingly, the AI-mind-body connection is doing a disservice to Jane. AI is impacting the mind, which is impacting behavior, and which is impacting the body.
Ongoing Use Is Key
It would seem surprising to have someone use AI for a single chat, and then suddenly demonstrably experience the AI-mind-body connection. Things are unlikely to percolate that way.
The more likely aspect would be that repeated uses of AI are going to gradually produce the AI-mind-body effects. Joe decides to use an LLM and starts dialoguing about feeling lonely. The AI becomes a go-to mental health advisor regularly. This continues for several months.
For Joe, the AI might be providing a hidden level of AI-mind-body connection, slowly aiding Joe’s blood pressure and heart rate. This didn’t happen overnight. The repeated use of AI is the key. Meanwhile, the AI has advised Joe to get more exercise and socialize at the gym. Joe’s behavioral change has more visibly improved Joe’s physical health.
AI-Mind-Body Exploration
There could be difficulty trying to isolate whether the AI-mind-body connection is arising on the hidden basis or the behavioral basis. Research that is aimed at discerning what happens will need to be mindful of how to approach this entanglement. Furthermore, research will often need to take a long-term perspective. Using subjects that are being traced for their physiological reactions during a single chat session might not be as revealing as a months-long study of the impacts due to repeated use of AI.
There is an emerging research realm of AI psychophysiology that will provide important insights into the AI-mind-body connection. Experiments to explore AI-mediated mind-body effects need to be smartly devised and undertaken. The overall pursuit would consist of understanding how different patterns of AI usage tend to instill different psychological states, and then how those psychological states propagate into physiology.
I am going to be posting a series on the AI-mind-body connection and will be covering the types of hypotheses that are valuable for research to pursue. Stay tuned.
The World We Are In
Why does it matter that there is an AI-mind-body connection?
It matters because much of the focus nowadays is primarily on how AI impacts people’s minds, namely their mental health. This typically leaves out the corresponding impacts on their physical health. The point of AI-mind-body is to bring to the fore that when the mind is being impacted by AI, there is a solid chance that the body will be impacted too (perhaps on a delayed basis, maybe on a gradual basis, but still giving rise to a physiological impact).
The AI-mind-body phenomenon prods society to take a more holistic perspective on what’s happening with the human-AI advancements. Policymakers, lawmakers, AI makers, businesses, consumers, and all sorts of stakeholders must realize that the world isn’t only about AI-mind. Keep the big picture in mind by considering the AI-mind-body connection.
A final thought for now. Winston Churchill famously made this remark: “The empires of the future will be empires of the mind.” AI is clearly a mind-related consideration. The empire of the mind and the empire of the body are all at stake. Give prudent attention to the AI-mind-body connection.
Leave a comment