June 25, 2026 at 6:55 pm

“It’s Not Humanly Possible”: Worker Snaps After Unhinged Boss Spirals Into “AI Psychosis” and Blames Staff for Chatbot’s Delusional Targets

by Benjamin Cottrell

bald man using a headset typing on laptop

Pexels/Reddit

AI tools can be useful when they’re treated as what they are: assistants that process information and suggest possibilities.

However, they start to become a problem when leaders start treating them like an authority that outranks the people actually doing the work.

One employee is living through that exact nightmare after his boss started over-depending on an AI chatbot to generate business projections that were basically impossible to meet.

So when the real humans inevitably fell short, it spelled major trouble for the entire workplace.

Keep reading for the full story.

My boss has ai psychosis and we’re done for.

Go to meeting. Boss shares the conversation he had with Claude and stone cold serious tells us we need to appease Claude and meet “his” projections.

But Claude wasn’t giving the answer this boss was hoping for.

Claude doesn’t understand our clients or their needs, so things don’t happen the way Claude projected.

Boss flips out. Has another conversation with Claude to ask why.

Claude promptly throws the actual employees under the bus.

Claude can’t figure it out so we must be the problem.

This employee is starting to grow seriously concerned about his boss’ mental health.

I’m watching him get deeper and deeper into the hole and it’s depressing to watch, and for his sake too.

This can’t be good for his mental health. It’s not good for any of us.

He’s starting to feel totally checked out of this job.

I don’t want to participate in the dog and pony show anymore. I want to lay in the grass.

I think we all need to log off. Vent over. Thanks for listening.

Maybe this workplace went a little overboard on adopting AI.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.

What did Reddit make of this story?

This commenter shares a similarly bleak outlook on their workplace.

Screenshot 2026 06 23 at 4.24.15 PM Its Not Humanly Possible: Worker Snaps After Unhinged Boss Spirals Into AI Psychosis and Blames Staff for Chatbot’s Delusional Targets

AI can really wreak havoc when your leadership is insecure.

Screenshot 2026 06 23 at 4.25.20 PM Its Not Humanly Possible: Worker Snaps After Unhinged Boss Spirals Into AI Psychosis and Blames Staff for Chatbot’s Delusional Targets

Why not use AI to fight AI?

Screenshot 2026 06 23 at 4.25.47 PM Its Not Humanly Possible: Worker Snaps After Unhinged Boss Spirals Into AI Psychosis and Blames Staff for Chatbot’s Delusional Targets

This user is vehemently against the technology.

Screenshot 2026 06 23 at 4.26.19 PM Its Not Humanly Possible: Worker Snaps After Unhinged Boss Spirals Into AI Psychosis and Blames Staff for Chatbot’s Delusional Targets

The chatbot can’t figure out why the projections were wrong, so the humans must be the problem. That sentence alone should be enough to make anyone in leadership take a step back and think about what they’re doing.

But that’s the trap with AI-assisted decision-making when it’s in the wrong hands.

The tool sounds confident, the output looks clean, and if you don’t understand its limitations, it’s easy to treat it like an oracle.

This boss skipped right past “useful tool” and landed on “infallible advisor,” and now his team is paying for it — both with their morale and their sanity.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.