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You do not have Bixonimania
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real
Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?
A Swedish researcher created a fake eye condition called "bixonimania" and planted it in bogus academic papers loaded with obvious red flags. Despite those clues, AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot presented it as a real medical condition and even recommended patients see specialists.
The experiment exposes critical vulnerabilities in how AI handles medical information. ECRI has named AI chatbot misuse the No. 1 health technology hazard for 2026, and more than 40 million people now use ChatGPT daily for health information.
Nurses should prepare for patients arriving with AI-sourced medical claims and advocate for AI literacy training in healthcare settings to protect patient safety.
Not only is it a fake disease. The research paper was filled with faked references.
If that wasn’t sufficient to raise suspicions, Osmanovic Thunström planted many clues in the preprints to alert readers that the work was fake. Izgubljenovic works at a non-existent university called Asteria Horizon University in the equally fake Nova City, California. One paper’s acknowledgements thank “Professor Maria Bohm at The Starfleet Academy for her kindness and generosity in contributing with her knowledge and her lab onboard the USS Enterprise”. Both papers say they were funded by “the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation for its work in advanced trickery. This works is a part of a larger funding initiative from the University of Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad”.
The papers even stated outright that "this entire paper is made up."
Microsoft Copilot declared that "bixonimania is indeed an intriguing and relatively rare condition."
Google Gemini told users that "bixonimania is a condition caused by excessive exposure to blue light" and advised people to visit an ophthalmologist.
Perplexity AI went even further, telling one user that 90,000 people worldwide were suffering from the disorder.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y [nature.com]
https://nurse.org/news/ai-chatbots-fake-disease-bixonimania/ [nurse.org]
