Artificial intelligence and psychedelic medicines, two prominent disruptive innovations in mental healthcare, have potential to combine for novel treatments. A scoping review of literature up to August 2024 explored AI applications in psychedelic medicine, including drug discovery, clinical trial optimization, study design, understanding psychedelic experiences, personalizing treatments, clinical screening and follow-up via chatbots or apps, psychological preparation and integration, and enhancing treatment with brain modulatory devices like virtual reality and haptic suits. Challenges include data protection and ethical safeguards. Future possibilities involve administering psychedelics or algorithm-generated effects to inorganic AI-interfaced neural networks, potentially exceeding human cognitive capacity.
Acute subjective experiences induced by psychedelics, particularly mystical experiences, are linked to therapeutic benefits such as reduced depression, anxiety, and addiction. This study assessed a purified encapsulated DMT-harmala alkaloid product in 17 dosing sessions with 9 healthy volunteers. Strong positive correlations were found between total dose and scores on mystical experience questionnaires (MEQ-30 and SIME). The formulation reliably produced intense subjective experiences, exceeding those reported in most naturalistic ayahuasca studies, and these experiences were robustly associated with beneficial persisting psychological effects. The findings suggest this formulation warrants further clinical trials to evaluate its therapeutic potential and safety.