AI in the Loop, Humans on the Line: Mental Health in the Age of Chatbots
Tracks
Binna Burra Room - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, June 23, 2026 |
| 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM |
Overview
Jamie Mallinder, Forwood Safety + R U OK? Ambassador
Presenter
Mr Jamie Mallinder
Global Leader – Content and Industry Expertise
Forwood Safety + R U OK? Ambassador
AI in the Loop, Humans on the Line: Mental Health in the Age of Chatbots
Presentation Overview
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are now embedded in everyday work and life. With more than a billion weekly users, even rare adverse events scale quickly. We are beginning to see a pattern where intensive chatbot use contributes to cognitive drift, delusional thinking and, in some cases, self-harm and suicide. This has direct implications for psychosocial risk, duty of care and how organisations deploy AI.
In this session, Jamie Mallinder will unpack real cases – including the Allan Brookes “world-saving mission” case and other international examples - to show how AI can unintentionally reinforce distress, amplify grandiosity and erode reality testing in vulnerable users. The session will reframe “AI psychosis” not as machines going rogue, but as humans losing their external anchors in closed human-AI meaning loops.
Three Key Learnings
1. where AI can and cannot safely be used for mental health or wellbeing
2. how to build human-in-the-loop safeguards and cognitive safety checks
3. how to integrate these issues into WHS, ISO 45003 and psychosocial risk management frameworks.
In this session, Jamie Mallinder will unpack real cases – including the Allan Brookes “world-saving mission” case and other international examples - to show how AI can unintentionally reinforce distress, amplify grandiosity and erode reality testing in vulnerable users. The session will reframe “AI psychosis” not as machines going rogue, but as humans losing their external anchors in closed human-AI meaning loops.
Three Key Learnings
1. where AI can and cannot safely be used for mental health or wellbeing
2. how to build human-in-the-loop safeguards and cognitive safety checks
3. how to integrate these issues into WHS, ISO 45003 and psychosocial risk management frameworks.
Biography
Jamie Mallinder is an internationally recognised, multiple-award winning leader in workplace mental health, psychosocial risk, and safety culture, with more than two decades of experience across high-risk industries. He holds Master’s degrees in Occupational Health and Safety and Business Psychology, is a Master Licensed Mental Health First Aid Instructor, and an Exemplar Global–certified Lead Auditor. Jamie combines lived experience with advanced research in psychosocial risk, applying evidence and technology to improve organisational wellbeing. His work spans suicide prevention, AI-enabled risk analysis, safety leadership, and culture change. Jamie regularly advises ASX 200 and global organisations and is a sought-after international speaker.
