The part where he believed the protagonist from his own books uploaded to ChatGPT had become sentient and that building an app based on that would make sense didn't strike you as eccentric at the very least? Or the birthday party where he couldn't hold a single conversation because his wife asked him not to talk about AI for a change?

Your last paragraph basically describes what the article writes about him.

Apart from the bit where he was hospitalised for "full manic psychosis", you mean?

It seems like he was at the very least close to that. Since we only get his first-person account it's hard to say, but:

> They discussed philosophy, psychology, science and the universe...

> When they went to their daughter’s birthday party, she asked him not to talk about AI. While there, Biesma felt strangely disconnected. He couldn’t hold a conversation. “For some reason, I didn’t fit in any more,” he says.

> It’s hard for Biesma to describe what happened in the weeks after, as his recollections are so different from those of his family...

> he was hospitalised three times for what he describes as “full manic psychosis”.

You don't get hospitalized three times for mania without being pretty severely detached from reality.

The intense drive to "do", which serves many software developers well in their careers is weaponized against them by these chatbots. You see them here sometimes on /new at various stages. Sad delusions, some are already homeless. Frequent use of their full legal name for some reason.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47408999

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47388478

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44683618

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47064316

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47498693

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092569

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44912446

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47143420