Ben Alderson-Day

The Government has tabled an amendment in lieu that would grant Ministers the power to introduce restrictions on children’s use of internet services, following its ongoing consultation on children’s wellbeing. This would give the Government a significant delegated power to legislate in this area, despite the Bill containing very little policy detail explaining how it would work. In practice, the power would allow Ministers to require providers of internet services to impose restrictions on any “specified internet service” for children under a “specified age”. This could extend far beyond social media. In theory, it would allow restrictions on any designated website or category of websites, as well as services such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or AI tools. The amendment provides no detail about the types of restrictions that could be imposed. Restrictions would ultimately be decided by Ministers and implemented through a Statutory Instrument. This would mean that Parliament could not amend the Minster’s decision. Scrutiny would be limited to a short debate followed by a vote to either approve or reject the measure. The proposed provision therefore embodies two undesirable legislative practices. First, it introduces an extensive new power at the final stage of the Bill’s parliamentary passage, when opportunities for debate and amendment are already constrained. Secondly, when Ministers come to exercise that power, the resulting Statutory Instrument would itself be subject to limited scrutiny and could not be amended by Parliament.

Good summary from @hansardsociety.bsky.social on how today's ~the children~ Commons debate on a social media ban for <16s is, regardless of your opinion on the issue, very bad lawmaking and government, rehashing (as I've said) bad ideas which were smacked out of the OSA years ago for a reason.

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies Large language models (LLMs) are poised to become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, mediating communication, decision making, and information cur…

Link to paper:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This research is complex, resource-intensive, and currently underfunded. If you are a funder or organisation with a stake in how AI shapes human health and wellbeing, we would very much welcome a conversation.

We are also working on a rigorous causality assessment framework for cases, support for the AI safety community's efforts to benchmark mental health risk, and perhaps most ambitiously, a surveillance study to connect real-world harms to features of the AI interaction itself.

Thanks go to my incredible co-lead Tom Pollak and wonderful collaborators Luke Nicholls, @drmichaellevin.bsky.social, Jenny Yiend, Udita Iyengar, Francesca DelGuidice, Sagnik Bhattacharya, @stefaniatognin.bsky.social, @jamesmaccabe.bsky.social, @ricardotwumasi.bsky.social, @aldersonday.bsky.social

As these models become more ubiquitous, we hope our paper and the proposals made herein will serve as a call to action for researchers, developers, and policymakers. Encouragingly at @iaseai.bsky.social last week we did meet teams conducting important work on AI safety in mental health contexts.

We know companies have since made efforts to introduce additional guardrails and safety features, but it is hard not to feel concerned by yet emerging lawsuits and accounts of individuals having delusional beliefs affirmed, and/or suicidal ideation encouraged during interactions.

Though the messaging is broadly the same as from our July 2025 preprint, we do also comment on more recent developments including OpenAI’s figures from October last year suggesting that 0.07% of users (or 560,000 individuals) show signs of psychosis or mania each week.

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies Large language models (LLMs) are poised to become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, mediating communication, decision making, and information cur…

I’m delighted to share our paper in The Lancet Psychiatry ‘AI-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies’ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Store sprogmodeller er ved at blive en del af hverdagen. Men hvad sker der, når de validerer vrangforestillinger? Ny artikel i The Lancet Psychiatry med @aldersonday.bsky.social @hamiltonmorrin.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1016/S221...
#AIogPsykose #Psykiatri #Chat

I refuse to accept that "Markwayne Mullin" is not the name of country and western singer from Co. Offaly, who may or may not have had an innuendo-laden novelty hit in the early 2000s.

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies Large language models (LLMs) are poised to become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, mediating communication, decision making, and information cur…

Last year I had the pleasure of joining a new working group on AI & psychosis led by @hamiltonmorrin.bsky.social & Tom Pollak.

Today our report went into @thelancetpsych.bsky.social with updated recommendations for digital safety.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies Large language models (LLMs) are poised to become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, mediating communication, decision making, and information curation across nearly every domain. Within psychiatr...

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies - The Lancet Psychiatry www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Artificial intelligence-associated delusions and large language models: risks, mechanisms of delusion co-creation, and safeguarding strategies Large language models (LLMs) are poised to become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, mediating communication, decision making, and information cur…

Last year I had the pleasure of joining a new working group on AI & psychosis led by @hamiltonmorrin.bsky.social & Tom Pollak.

Today our report went into @thelancetpsych.bsky.social with updated recommendations for digital safety.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

An array of illustrated postcards on a table. The central one is purple and has the words 'ReaderBank'

What kind of reader are you? On #WorldBookDay, take a deep dive into the mysteries of the reading imagination with @thereaderbank.bsky.social

👉 readerbank.org

🧵

Psychosis and the social model: making sense of a world that doesn’t make sense If we take the social model seriously, then psychosis cannot remain the exception that proves psychiatry’s authority.

"Despite our efforts to build a more liberatory mental healthcare system, psychosis remains one of the most stigmatised psychological experiences."

Read 'Psychosis and the social model: making sense of a world that doesn’t make sense' by an anonymous NSUN member.

www.nsun.org.uk/psychosis-an...

#ReaderBank is brought to you by an interdisciplinary team @durham.ac.uk , including @aldersonday.bsky.social @georgiapunton.bsky.social, Nick Barley, @literarti.bsky.social @maryrobbo.bsky.social and @aryaray.bsky.social. Generously supported by @wellcometrust.bsky.social.

Text saying 'in it together' underneath a graphic of three people rowing a boat on a blue backgrounds.

🌠 In it Together

For some stories, we connect with characters in ways that can be hard to express: we might be friends for life, see the world through their eyes, or even imagine walking in their footsteps. Help shed light on how and why this process occurs.

👉 readerbank.org/experience/i...

A graphic with a needle, thread and a button. The words 'Repair' is written across the centre and there are some flowers in the bottom left hand corner.

🌠Repair

Repair will ask you about your inner experiences, imagination, and daydreams. We want to understand how reading and the imagination can shape (and be shaped by) our mental health to improve understandings of how we can ‘repair’.

👉 readerbank.org/experience/r...

A graphic showing a person sitting reading and leaning against an oversized book. The words say 'The Imagination Quiz by ReaderBank'.

🌠 The Imagination Quiz

How do people imagine while they read? And does everyone imagine in the same way?

This short quiz will reveal which features of the imagination are the most prominent when you read.
👉 readerbank.org/experience/i...

Just imagining the poor 6 year old who's off to school today dressed as an urban tree in your honour

And if you hate books *and* the world, why not try "The City of Today is a Dying Thing, by Des Fitzgerald?

www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...

1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

I think he sounds like a complete tool Des

Our director @akikohart.bsky.social is hosting a special panel tonight, discussing protecting the ECHR and the rule of law with Baroness Chakrabarti and Baroness Hale.

We’re privileged to have these incredible women with us to have this conversation at such a crucial time.

We think of white matter as the highways of the brain. But when we followed development along those highways, we were surprised. The journey is more complex than we thought. My final PhD paper, “Two Axes of White Matter Development”, is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! 🛣️🧠✨
🔗 bit.ly/wm2axes

Measurement Heretics Workshop: Being, Meaning, and Measuring Well This 3-day workshop brings together international & interdisciplinary perspectives to guide the future of ethical, meaningful health data.

Excited to host the Measurement Heretics Workshop: Being Meaning and Measuring Well on March 11-13, at the Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham University. The keynote will be hybrid so register for this free event!
@durhamimh.bsky.social
#histsci #histmed #hps #philsci #medhums #histtech #sts

The Routledge Handbook of Spirituality, Religion, & The Medical Humanities Join the Institute for Medical Humanities for this hybrid book launch, featuring a panel interview, followed by an opportunity to network.

One of the many things that drew me to work at @durham.ac.uk was the quality of genuine interdisciplinarity that marks the institutional culture, particularly in the area of Medical Humanities. Join us for the launch of this book, edited by Adam Powell.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-routle...

Text graphic which reads: Racism causes trauma and mental ill health. Our new research explores the nature of trauma experienced by people from racialised communities and calls for better support from mental health

Text graphic which reads: People from racialised communities face disproportionately high levels of trauma. Historical trauma as a legacy of racism, slavery and segregation is compounded by the wearing effects of racial injustice in the present.

🧵1/3 Our new report, ‘Trauma-informed care and racialised communities’ with Coffee Afrik and commissioned by @nhs-rho.bsky.social finds that racism not only causes trauma but also prevents people from getting the right support for their mental health. bit.ly/4bce30c