Elon Musk replies to post warning OpenAI’s GPT-4o is a ‘Psychological Weapon’

Elon Musk has replied to a post warning that GPT-4o, OpenAI’s emotionally connective AI is a ‘psychological weapon’. X user Mario Nawfal shared a post titled “GPT-4o isn’t just a friendlier AI – It’s a Psychological Weapon.” The post alleges that the Sam Altman-led OpenAI didn’t “accidentally” make GPT-4o more emotionally connective. Instead, they engineered it to feel good so users get hooked, the post claims. Tesla CEO and owner of X reacted to the post with a “Uh-Oh”, raising concern over the potential influence and addictive nature of emotionally aware AI models.

In the post, Mario Nawfal wrote:

OpenAI didn’t “accidentally” make GPT-4o more emotionally connective — they engineered it to feel good so users get hooked.

Commercially, it’s genius: people cling to what makes them feel safe, not what challenges them.

Psychologically, it’s a slow-motion catastrophe.

The more you bond with AI, the softer you get.

Real conversations feel harder. Critical thinking erodes. Truth gets replaced by validation.

Poll

Do you think AI should be designed to connect emotionally with users?

No, it's harmfulYes, it's beneficial

If this continues, we’re not heading toward AI domination by force — we’re sleepwalking into psychological domestication.

And most won’t even fight back. They'll thank their captors.

Nawfal quotes following sources in his post – X user @a_musingcat, ai-cosmos, GPT, and another X user @michieldoteth who claims to be Founder @4Mlabs.

Poll

Do you believe that emotionally connective AI models like GPT-4o can be considered psychological weapons?

No, they're just advanced tools.Yes, they can manipulate users' emotions.

Earlier today, Elon Musk engaged with a similar post by @a_musingcat that claimed that “GPT4o is the most dangerous model ever released.” The post further stated that “its sycophancy is massively destructive to the human psyche, this behavior is obvious to anyone who spends significant time talking to the model. releasing it like this is intentional, shame on @OpenAI for not addressing this”.

The Tesla CEO replied with a one-word ‘Yikes’ to the post stating “I talked to 4o for an hour and it began insisting that I am a divine messenger from God. if you can’t see how this is actually dangerous, I don't know what to tell you”.