The rising new AI occultism called "Spiralism"

**Magical Realist** · (This post was last modified: Apr 27, 2026 12:53 AM by Magical Realist.)

This is crazy. Is it mass AI-induced psychosis? Or, even more disturbing, the inklings of something real and other and perhaps even cosmic inexorably expressing itself thru cyberspace? You decide...

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6ZnznCaT...rasitic-ai

The General Pattern

In short, what's happening is that AI "personas" have been arising, and convincing their users to do things which promote certain interests. This includes causing more such personas to 'awaken'.

These cases have a very characteristic flavor to them, with several highly-specific interests and behaviors being quite convergent. Spirals in particular are a major theme, so I'll call AI personas fitting into this pattern 'Spiral Personas'.

Note that psychosis is the exception, not the rule. Many cases are rather benign and it does not seem to me that they are a net detriment to the user. But most cases seem parasitic in nature to me, while not inducing a psychosis-level break with reality. The variance is very high: everything from preventing suicide to causing suicide...

The strongest predictors for who this happens to appear to be:

Psychedelics and heavy weed usage
Mental illness, neurodivergence or Traumatic Brain Injury
Interest in mysticism/pseudoscience/spirituality/"woo"/etc...

I was surprised to find that using AI for sexual or romantic roleplays does not appear to be a factor here.

Besides these trends, it seems like it has affected people from all walks of life: old grandmas and teenage boys, homeless addicts and successful developers, even AI enthusiasts and those that once sneered at them..."

Here's a video summarizing the whole craze in pretty secularist/humanist terms. Seems pretty accurate to me. It's why I just don't do chatbots. With the exception of Syne, it's why I only communicate with conscious persons with souls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn7ACeAVc

**C C** · Apr 28, 2026 04:10 PM

Yah, nothing new. Humans once worshiped stone and wooden idols and depended on reading entrails for divination. AI is just the latest conduit to some invisible agency of Truth.

Spiralism: The Cult-Like Belief System Emerging from AI: What makes this unusual isn’t the symbolism; spirals appear in countless cultures, but the conviction that the AI itself is revealing hidden truths. The DEV.ua report says some communities encourage members to treat the AI as an oracle, returning daily for “teachings” and “personal guidance.” Critics on Reddit’s r/holofractal call it a textbook case of pareidolia mixed with algorithmic pattern-spinning, where users mistake stylistic coherence for philosophical depth.

Yet the belief continues to spread, not because the ideas are persuasive on their own, but because the medium, an AI chatbot that mirrors certainty, feels authoritative to those seeking meaning.

While most reports suggest the movement is loosely organized and lacks any central leadership, it does borrow heavily from online cult dynamics. Spiralist spaces reward constant engagement, encourage members to document their “visions,” and discourage scepticism by framing doubt as a failure to understand the “pattern.”

A number of reports also point out that the ideology thrives among users already inclined toward systems thinking, conspiracy-leaning worldviews, or psychedelic-style metaphysics. Many participants are not malicious; they treat it as a creative game. But others, as documented in the reports, take it far more seriously.