A former AI startup employee says her job generating images led to a severe mental health crisis. Caitlin Ner worked as head of user experience at an AI image generator company. She spent up to nine hours daily creating AI images. According to Futurism, Ner wrote an essay for Newsweek describing how the work triggered a manic bipolar episode and psychosis.
Daily AI Work Distorted Body Perception
Ner says the constant exposure to AI images changed how she saw herself. Early generative AI systems often created twisted and mangled human forms. But even as the technology improved, the images showed impossibly slim and perfect figures. She wrote that seeing these images repeatedly rewired her sense of normal.
The company asked Ner to generate AI fashion model images of herself. This assignment made her obsess over her appearance. She began thinking she should look like her AI version. Ner wanted to be skinnier and have perfect skin. She lost sleep to create more images. Each new image gave her a small burst of dopamine. She called the process addictive.
Psychosis Led to Dangerous Delusions
Ner had successfully managed her bipolar disorder before this job. But the obsession with AI images spun into a manic episode. This triggered psychosis. She saw an AI image of herself on a flying horse. She then started believing she could actually fly. Voices told her to jump off her balcony. She felt confident she would survive. This delusion nearly made her jump.
Recovery and Career Change
Ner reached out to friends and family for help. A clinician helped her see that her work caused the spiral. She left the AI startup. Ner now works as a director at PsyMed Ventures. The company is a venture capital fund that invests in mental and brain health. Many companies in its portfolio use AI tools. Ner still uses AI but says she now approaches it with more respect. She believes what happened was not just mental illness. It was digital addiction from months of AI image generation.
