Renowned Psychoanalyst and Bestselling Author Explores the Unconscious Roots of AI Bias
CHEVY CHASE, MD, UNITED STATES, March 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As Artificial Intelligence reshapes our global industry, bestselling author and psychoanalyst Dr. Karyne Messina warns that the greatest threat isn’t the technology itself, but the human “shadow” we’ve programmed into it. Part of Routledge’s Psychoanalysis, Technology, and the Future Series, Messina’s provocative new book, Using Psychoanalysis to Understand and Address AI Bias: Refractions in the Digital Mirror (Routledge, March 10, 2026), argues that AI bias is not a technical glitch, but a psychological projection.
While tech leaders scramble to “patch” algorithmic bias with more data, Dr. Messina—a staff member at Johns Hopkins Medicine and a leading voice in the American Psychoanalytic Association—identifies a deeper crisis. She posits that AI acts as a “digital mirror,” reflecting the unconscious prejudices, defense mechanisms, and “splitting” of its human creators. “People need friction to prosper and flourish. You can’t develop intimate relationships without friction,” explains Messina. “In order to grow emotionally people need to disagree, argue and then eventually come to an understanding of one another. That’s how people get closer. We are currently in a delicate, high-stakes navigation of the human psyche in an automated age.”
Research in 2026 has identified a 30% spike in depression among daily chatbot users. Dr. Messina suggests this is a biological response to a frictionless existence. “When you talk to AI, your body knows it is sitting in a room alone. Machines can’t feel, so they can’t respond subjectively. You can’t heal a human heart with a ghost in the machine,” implores Messina. Through her concept of the “Algorithmic Unconscious,” Dr. Messina reveals how we are inadvertently depositing our hidden biases and trauma into AI code, turning messy human prejudices into “objective facts.”
Using Psychoanalysis to Understand and Address AI Bias: Refractions in the Digital Mirror is a call to action to reclaim our vulnerability, our imperfections, and the necessary friction of being alive.
About Dr. Karyne Messina
Dr. Karyne E. Messina is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, and bestselling author. She is a staff member at Johns Hopkins Medicine and maintains a private practice in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her work focuses on how psychoanalytic principles can solve complex societal issues, from politics to emerging technology. For more information, please visit drkarynemessina.com.
Using Psychoanalysis to Understand and Address AI Bias: Refractions in the Digital Mirror (ISBN: 9781032959146) is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
and Routledge.com.
Maria Carola
Maria Carola Communications
email us here
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
