Would they, though? Current AI stuff is delivering something functionally nonexistent in human history before this: absolute sycophancy, 24/7, on demand, for anyone who wants it. People joke about the wealthy becoming detached from reality because of yes-men, but this is a stage beyond even the capability of the most dedicated brown-noser.

I agree that these people had mental health issues. I think if they got to billionaire level and were surrounded by yes men they would have the same reaction.

The difference nowadays is you can get the same surrounded by yes men experience for only 20 dollars a month so a lot more of the people who are primed for this sort of breakdown are now being exposed to it due to the decrease in cost.

That is a possibility indeed, I agree. There are mild mental issues that might have gone under the radar before and are now magnified by the AI sycophancy. I'm no mental health expert so I can't really tell but it does make some intuitive sense.

Edit: but at the same time there are issues that were always there and Just manifestate in new ways. A bit like addiction, you can have an addictive personality already, but if you get addicted on heroin is much much worse that on tobacco.