Found Value in the Artifice of Semblance: Engaging With Abstraction Within Generative AI and Integration Practice in PAT

Abstract goes here. Artificial intelligence (AI) and psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) exist in dynamic interstices (real/unreal, professional/recreational, critiqued/lauded), and shared amongst them is the rapidity of development and implementation. We find potential for exploration in the ebb and flow of affordances and criticisms that these spaces present one another. In PAT, integration is defined as the processes by which an individual assimilates emotions, sensations, and insights experienced in non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC). Within the context of this work, we will specifically detail image-making as an example. Integration is distinct in that its value is particular to the individual, intrinsic to ones’ perspective, existing without precedent due to the often ineffable nature of NOSCs. Within AI-aided creation, there is consensus that successful results demonstrate high fidelity and accuracy to the prompt. Many results incentivize re-engagement, taking the form of prompt refinement, or starting over; the “success” of a prompt is in the hands of the writer, but what is consistent is the process of refinement. Jux-taposing the meaning-making and valuation process of integration (hyper-specific, yet intractable) with AI content generation (seemingly infinite, highly directed) we can extrapolate unique threads of interest, specifically analyzing gatekeeping, ac-cessibility, (non) sense-making, and knowledge regulation. We also present the early results of a preliminary study (N = 34) to assess whether contemporary Generative AI tools hold value for self-identified users of psychedelics toward integration practice.